


Too Good for this Universe

by ams75, IncendiaGlacies



Series: Time Travelling in Two Universes [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Rip Week 2018, RipFic, Timeless Season 2, post Legends of Tomorrow S3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-05 20:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14626929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ams75/pseuds/ams75, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Taking the time drive to defeat Mallus doesn’t kill Rip. Instead it throws him into a completely different universe. Where he meets a different Time Team, that has their own problem: Rittenhouse.Legends of Tomorrow/Timeless Crossover Fic





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Collab fic by ams75 and incendiaglacies where Rip Hunter lives and meets the Timeless Team. 
> 
> For background information:  
> Both shows revolve around time travelling.  
> In Legends of Tomorrow they just defeated a time demon named Mallus where Rip sacrificed himself to save the team.  
> In Timeless, the team is trying to take down a corrupt time travelling organization named Rittenhouse, canon up until 2x02
> 
> This is our first time writing Timeless characters, hopefully we did them justice. Enjoy!

Alarms blasted, rousing everyone. Lucy bolted upright when the noise pierced through her unconsciousness. There was a knock on her door before Wyatt came in. He nodded at her and she followed him out where they found Rufus and Jiya also leaving their rooms.

“Is it Rittenhouse? Did they get in?” Rufus asked the obvious question as Jiya continued to look worried.

“I don’t know,” Wyatt said.

“It’s got to be Rittenhouse. Who else would find us?” Lucy said, worrying that she might find her mother somewhere in the bunker now. There was a scuffle behind them and Wyatt drew his gun in the direction of the noise. Mason and Flynn raised their hands in surrender while Agent Christopher had her own gun drawn.

“Security shows it’s coming from the east end,” she said. “Wyatt, you’re with me. Rest of you, stay behind us.”

Agent Christopher put a finger to her lips as she led the charge with Wyatt by her side. Flynn followed closely after them while the rest of the gang trailed behind. Jiya reached out and took Rufus’ hand. 

“How did Rittenhouse get into our storage closet?” she whispered when she realized where they were headed.

“The evil cult has a time machine, why are you surprised they can infiltrate our base?” Rufus countered.

“Unless it was a sleeper agent placed within our people,” Lucy said.

“All possible theories,” Flynn agreed in front of them. “But you’re missing the point-whoever it is, we’re not letting them get out alive.”

Agent Christopher turned on them with a stern look. She held up a hand to stop them in their tracks. They were to go no further. She signaled to Wyatt and the two of them made their way down the rest of the hallway, both on either side of the door at the end. She nodded at him, 3...2...1. They kicked the door open.

A man stood there, blinking owlishly at the sudden light.  A duster covered most of his clothes, jeans and boots covered the rest. He held his empty hands up.  Sirens blaring had been his first clue that he wasn't going to like wherever he was. 

"I come in peace."

Wyatt waited on Agent Christopher’s orders. “You believe him?” he asked her.

“No, but hold your fire. He could be useful.” She turned to the English stranger, “Rittenhouse sent you?”

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage.  Rittenhouse?"

“What are you waiting for, shoot him!”

Agent Christopher turned and saw Flynn had broken ranks and had come up behind them. “I don’t take orders from you.”

Meanwhile Wyatt spoke with the stranger. “You show up in the middle of our bunker with no explanation and you expect us to believe you aren’t Rittenhouse?”

A bunker under lockdown, that explained the alarm, he surmised.  "Would this 'Rittenhouse', whatever it is, remain in what appears to be a supply closet or be working actively against you? I'm an unwilling traveller, would anyone be willing to tell me the date?"

The question of what the date was sent up flares for Wyatt. He turned back to look at Lucy who had made her way over with the rest of the team.

“You don’t know what date it is?” Lucy repeated.

"I know what it was when I woke up," he said, irritated.  "It may have changed. Rather a lot may have changed."

“And what was it when you woke up?” Agent Christopher asked her gun still aimed at him. “And how did you get here?” If the Mothership was here than they could get an advantage over Rittenhouse for once.

"The tenth of April, 2018.  A rather specialised drive blew up, I expected to die.  Instead, I found myself here, your alarm blaring and then you flung the door open.”  Most of the accents he'd heard so far were American. "Somewhere in the United States, I imagine."

“April 10, 2018,” Agent Christopher repeated turning to Mason and Lucy.

“It’s the 23rd now. You’re telling us you somehow blew yourself two weeks into the future?” Lucy said. They all looked at Mason, there were only two time machines in the world. One of them was the Lifeboat, the other was the Mothership.

“If he blew up the time drive of the Mothership then that’s a good thing, right?” Rufus asked aloud. “No more Rittenhouse jumping back and forth and messing with history?”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” Flynn muttered under his breath.

Interesting that they realised it was a time drive.  More alarming that they were still associating him with something he'd never heard of before.  "Mothership? No." Bollocks. Was he even on his Earth? Or had the timeline twisted into something completely unrecognisable?  "I suppose there's no Time Bureau?" At their blank looks he swore. "Bollocks."

“So you are a time traveller,” Mason stepped forward and asked, somewhat excitedly.

“Only time travelers other than us are Rittenhouse-not a good thing,” Rufus reminded him.

"Do a search for Rip Hunter.  I assume you have something like an internet? I'll be surprised if you turn up anything.  And you all are?" Rip asked, exasperated. He turned to the man with the English accent. "Yes, time traveller, also, not evil."

“Of course we have Internet,” Rufus scoffed. Jiya was already pulling out her phone to run the search.

“No results.” She announced to the group.

“Wyatt, gun down for now,” Agent Christopher ordered. Wyatt sighed but holstered the gun.

“I’m Lucy, that’s Wyatt, Rufus. We, and on occasion Flynn here, are the resident time travelers for the team.”

“I’m Agent Denise Christopher with the NSA. This is Jiya and Connor Mason - he built the first time machine.”

“And then an evil group stole it so you can see why we’re a bit jumpy.” Rufus finished.

Rip nodded slightly.  "I assume I'm to be a 'guest' while I’m here?"

“You assume correctly,” Denise said. “I’m sure you won’t mind answering some questions for us?”

"May we move somewhere more comfortable first?" His head was spinning and he preferred sitting down over falling down.

“Sadly this bunker doesn’t offer too many comforts,” Jiya grumbled. Denise shot her a sharp look and she shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Bring him out to the main work area. We can talk there,” Denise told Wyatt and Flynn.

Rip walked behind her, flanked by Kill and Not Kill.  He wondered how long it would take for them to realise he was armed and relieve him of his laser revolver.

“We should check him for weapons,” Wyatt said when they reached the common area. Denise nodded. Rip complied, raising his arms and allowing Wyatt to pat him down. “What the hell is this?” he asked, pulling out the revolver.

“I believe that would be a gun, genius,” Flynn said. Wyatt simply glared at him.

"More proof that I'm not from this 2018," Rip said tiredly as he eyed the chair longingly.

“Sit him down,” Denise ordered. Wyatt and Flynn did just that. The agent turned to all of them. “I suppose it would be too much to ask to talk to him myself?”

“Yes,” Lucy said firmly. “We have our lives on the line too. We have every right to be here.”

“All right then.” Denise turned back to Rip. “My apologies about the rude greeting and my team’s insistence. But circumstances are what they are.”

"Under siege from something called Rittenhouse.  Ask your questions."

“Explain what happened and how exactly you ended up here. Keep in mind that while Connor, Rufus, and Jiya may be geniuses I don’t have the same specialties.”

"I've no idea.  My ship had a time drive and I removed it so I could buy some time for my team to deal with a time demon.  Yes, I know it sounds insane. I made the drive explode. Next thing I knew, I was here with a splitting headache."

“A demon,” Rufus repeated incredulously. Denise silenced him with a look. 

“And you said you were a time traveler?” She continued her line of questioning.

"I am, yes."

“And you’re from the future? I mean I can only assume so, future time traveller getting stuck in the past.” Mason interrupted as he stepped forward. The look on Denise’s face made it clear she wasn’t happy about it but he ignored her. “And in the future, time travel is normal is it?” he asked excitedly.

“If you mean the general public, no.”

“So, at some point in the future people are still using the Mothership and Lifeboat?” Lucy asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.  Either the timeline has changed drastically or I’m on another Earth.”

“Timeline, the timeline,” Lucy said in revelation, “Okay, so in your timeline, where was JFK assassinated?”

“Dallas, Texas.”

“And in ours it was Austin, Texas,” Agent Christopher said.

“Yeah, but only because we went back and messed with the timeline.” Rufus reminded her. “Originally it was Dallas.”

“Who is the current mayor of Star City?” Rip asked.

“Star City?” Wyatt turned to Rufus and Jiya.

Jiya shrugged and pulled out her phone, looking it up. “Um, there isn’t a record of Star City. At least not in America.”

“Different Earth,” Rip said quietly.

“Different Earth,” Lucy breathed. She turned to Mason and Rufus. “Different Earth - that’s not possible. How can that be possible?”

“We time travel and you think parallel universes aren’t possible?” Rufus asked like she was the crazy one.

“It’s always been theoretical but never proven. Until now, I suppose,” Mason said.

“I’m sorry, are we not missing the bigger picture here?” Flynn interrupted them. “Is this man Rittenhouse or not?”

Apparently Flynn was rather thick.  “I reiterate, what is Rittenhouse?” Rip asked.

“I’m taking that as a no for now,” Denise said. “Rittenhouse is an organization determined on manipulating events in history so that they have complete control over the present. We’ve been following after them and attempting to stop their takeovers.”

“Ah.  Mothership.  Lifeboat. Yours is tethered to this Mothership?”

“It was supposed to be used in case of emergencies, if the Mothership was ever in danger the Lifeboat could follow. And then  _ somebody _ ,” Connor Mason glared at Flynn, “stole the Mothership, and Rittenhouse stole it again. Using it to wreck history ever since.”

“Time could collapse in on itself,” Rip said, horrified.

“Which is why we’ve been following them back, trying to stop them,” Lucy said. “They’ve been running around destroying history. Making changes so they’ll be in charge, they wouldn’t even have to take over the world. It would be already done.”

“Sounds like you need a bigger group.  Anyone who is away when the changes happen realise it, and anyone here thinks it was always that way?’

“That’s right.”

“You need somewhere unaffected by changes here on this Earth, to know what is supposed to happen.”

“And what exactly makes you an expert on all of this?” Mason interrupted. “We barely know anything about you.”

Rip thought a moment. "I've spent three quarters of my life on time travel, both theory and practical."  He turned his attention back to the woman who had the power to lock him up. “Continue with your questions.”

"How?" Denise asked before Mason could get a word in. "Until Mason built the first time machine a few years ago, time traveling was all theoretical for us. Exactly from how far in the future are you?"

"Or is your earth just more technologically advanced?" Rufus piped up.

"I'd have to see your current technology to make that judgement," he said, turning to Rufus then looked back at Agent Christopher.  Her question was much more complicated and he didn't want to get into it. "2166." He'd called that era home until... Well. "There was an organization who looked after the timeline but they grew corrupt.  They were replaced by the Time Bureau, which has headquarters in several countries and eras. Where I'm from, the one running in 2018 is in the United States."

"So you literally have 'time traveller' as an actual job title?" Jiya said.

Time Master, but he'd turned his back on them and destroyed them.  "Yes."

"And you think we can find a place on our earth to monitor time travel safely?" Denise continued. 

"Ma'am, I have to agree with Mason on this one," Wyatt stopped her. "We still barely know anything about this guy."

"We know he's a time traveller. And that he's been doing it for a while," Lucy said. 

"He says he is."

"I have to agree with Wyatt on this one, Lucy. We can't trust him," Flynn said. 

"I think we can," Lucy argued.

"That's the tricky bit. There isn't,” Rip interrupted the argument to answer the agent’s question.  “The past changes, those changes ripple along the timeline, those changes have now become how the past has always been.  Every time it changes, you," Rip looked at each in turn, "change, what had been common knowledge no longer is. If I had access to certain equipment, supervised of course, I could tell you if the Vanishing Point exists here.  Named that because time ceases to matter, changes on Earth don't reach there, so there is one acknowledged version of the timeline."

"A place where time ceases to exist." Mason looked highly enthused by the idea. 

"But you said this Time Bureau, operates within time. In 2018, our time," Denise said, "How do you know you aren't affected by time travel changes there?"

"Because there are a dozen scattered throughout time and the earliest one is run by artificial intelligences, who have the entire repository of the timeline in their memory banks.  Changes ripple upwards. For instance, if Christopher Columbus did not land in America, the timeline would be completely different in 2018. However, it would not affect 100 B.C."

"Agents throughout time. Sounds a lot like Rittenhouse to me," Rufus sighed. He caught sight of Rip's face, "But I mean, you guys aren't evil. At least, we don't think so."

"In my 2018, the Time Bureau answers to the United Nations."

"You see, sometimes it's good to have government involvement," Denise chided. 

Mason huffed. "Are we seriously doing this again?"

Clearly a long standing argument between them.  "If you want to gauge if I can make a contribution, allow me to see this... Lifeboat you have, schematics, I can tell you if I'm familiar with the theory behind the work.  Have your expert with me, you should have someone evaluate the value of what I might be able to offer," Rip said.

The team shared a look between everyone. 

"I'll take him," Rufus sighed. 

"And I'll go too. Just in case," Wyatt added with a nod to his friend.

Rip stood up slowly and followed Rufus as Wyatt trailed after them.

Rufus led them towards a spherical structure. "That right there, is the Lifeboat. And these," he picked up the tablet from a table, "Are partial schematics. Wouldn't want to give away everything."

"Well, if he's as good as he says he is, he won't need them," Wyatt pointed out.

"Paper? Pen?" Rip asked.  He doubted they'd want him to start using their technology yet.  He moved over to the table so he could study the schematics then fill in on the paper what he felt was was missing.  He sketched and wrote for twenty minutes in silence, feeling Wyatt watching his every move.

He stepped away when he finished, handing it over to Rufus to check his work. "From what I can tell, you are folding back on time itself. Which works well for going to the past, but not if you want to go to the future. Not intentionally anyways. Coming back from the past now is more of a boomerang effect. Now most people are used to time progressing linearly forward. Think of time like an accordion that you can fold in closer and closer until you can make the jump minimal."

He waited patiently to find out if he'd passed the first test.

Rufus looked at Wyatt, who shrugged. He wasn't the genius here. "I will take these suggestions to Mason," Rufus said diplomatically, trying to hide his excitement at the equations to travel to the future.

"All right if I look at the inner workings while you do that?" Rip nodded at the Lifeboat.

Wyatt and Rufus exchanged a look. Wyatt shook his head and Rufus shrugged in defiance. "Fine," he said. "Wyatt will stay and I'll send Jiya over while I talk to Mason."

Rip headed over to the Lifeboat and climbed the rolling metal ladder to enter it.  He sat down in the pilot's chair and studied the controls, occasionally mouthing a word.

"See anything interesting?" Wyatt asked.

"Deliberately set up so only a genius can fly this one.  You need to be able to calculate exactly where you're landing, factor in everything, get one number wrong and at best, you'll never land, just hurtle through time."

"Yeah sounds about right. We've had a lot of close calls," Wyatt nodded.

"I suppose you've never been in the Mothership," Rip mused as he wondered how difficult that one was to fly.

"No. At least I haven't. It was stolen. By Flynn, when he was parading through time trying to mess with it and take down Rittenhouse. And now they have it."

"And successfully changing history with it," Rip said.

"Some of it. Some of it was us. By accident." Wyatt cleared his throat uncomfortably. He got the feeling this guy was as much of a stickler about history as Lucy was.

Rip groaned inwardly.  More bloody amateurs. "Imagine a world without Louis Pasteur."

"Yes, yes, we know," Wyatt groaned. He was right. "We get multiple lectures from Lucy every single time. She's our historian."

"Which don't take," Rip said.  "You did say multiple lectures."  When was Jiya going to arrive to he could ask her some questions?

"Hey! Do you know how hard it is to go against agents whose sole purpose is to kill important historical figures and cause chaos in the present?"

"Almost as hard to make needed changes to the timeline that don't go awry?" Rip asked.

"Yup." He couldn't count the amount of times they had to tweak something to make sure whatever was supposed to happen would happen. 

"Hey, Rufus sent me." Jiya announced her presence as she stepped into the Lifeboat. She looked at Rip. "What are you looking at?"

“How the controls are set up, if there’s a way to simplify without having to rebuild it,” Rip said.

“Does it look anything like your timeship?”

“No, but I think I’ve worked out how it’s flown.”  He talked her through his theory. “Close?”

“Pretty close,” Jiya responded, not wanting to tell him how accurate he was without Mason or Rufus present.

“That’s one way to ensure the pilot has no fun,” Rip said.

“I think Rufus is grateful for the safety features.” Jiya shrugged. “How long did you pilot a timeship for?”

“Mmmmm, thirteen years, more or less.”

Jiya let out a low whistle. “That’s a long time. We haven’t - I mean we’ve had the time machines for a little bit. Different pilots, not all of them had good experiences though.”

“State secret?” Rip asked lightly.  “Or can you tell me more?”

“Actually don’t know,” Jiya admitted, “A lot of them didn’t want to talk about it. Just didn’t want to do it again. Rufus was newly minted when he became the pilot of the crew. And I was training to be a pilot, kept dying in the simulations though. Landing is hard.”

“With these controls, yes.  The simulator was before you were here?” He hadn’t seen anything like one so far in this bunker.

“Yeah, our original headquarters, Mason Industries was bombed by Rittenhouse so we had to-”

“Jiya! Don’t tell him everything,” Wyatt said, reminding the two of them he was still present.

“Hey Wyatt, why don’t you grab a coffee or something?” Jiya responded.

“Agent Christopher-”

“Trusts me,” Jiya gave him a look. “You took away his gun, right? I’ll be fine. Okay?”

“I will give you some space, but I will be right out here.” Wyatt warned. He hoped at the very least she might get some more answers out of the Brit. He turned and made his way down the stairs.

“Didn’t mean to get you into trouble,” Rip said apologetically.

“It’s fine. They’ve just all been a little overprotective of me since-” Jiya cut herself off.

“Since?” Rip prodded.

Jiya fiddled with her hands, taking a deep breath. “This might be a stupid question, but can I - we - trust you?”

“Yes.  As I see it, my options are find a way to be useful, or locked up somewhere forgotten as an illegal alien.”

“Makes sense,” Jiya agreed. “So, the Lifeboat used to be able to hold only three people - Rufus, Lucy, and Wyatt normally. But on one of the missions, I went along - four people. And ever since I came back, it’s like I’ve been having these - I know it’s going to sound crazy, but I have visions of the future.”

“You’ve seen them coming true?” Rip asked.

“A few so far. Ones about Rufus, getting hurt, and...other stuff,” Jiya trailed off not wanting to go into detail.

“Could be an effect of the time travel,” Rip said slowly, “if you’ve never had them before.  These equations are exacting and even the weight difference between having three versus four people throw them out of alignment, even as they seem correct.”

“That’s what we figured too. Except now, I keep seeing bad things happening and I don’t know what to do about it. It’s like, no matter what I do, it’s still going to happen,” Jiya said shakily.

“Yes, time has a way of doing that.  Change one thing, something else happens that causes the same result.”  He was bitterly aware of how that worked. “Maybe something is coming that you can affect, if you can recognise it.”

“It’s mostly just flashes of stuff. Weird, not good stuff,” Jiya trailed off, “It took me a while, to realize what it was.”

“Write it down, show me if you wish, we can try to analyse what you’re seeing, what happens.”

Jiya grabbed the notepad Rufus kept in the Lifeboat for emergencies and sketched out the scene she saw over and over again in her mind. She handed it to Rip. “I don’t know what it means, and I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Understandable.  I wish Gideon were here,” Rip murmured.

“Who’s Gideon?” Jiya asked curiously.

“My ship’s A.I., partner, chief medical officer, keeps the ship running smoothly with some help from me.  She’d have a theory or two.”

“A.I. as in Artificial Intelligence? That’s amazing, I mean, I know you said you had them at the Bureau but are they commonplace in every timeship?”

“Yes.  Most of them don’t have a personality but Gideon most certainly does.  She’ll be worried about me.”

“They feel things? I mean, real emotion? Not just mimic?” Jiya asked in awe.

“Gideon, yes.  The others I’ve had contact with, not really.  She’s been around for much longer, it’s possible she evolved that way.”

“How long? How old is your ship?” Jiya had to stop herself from asking all the questions that were bubbling in her mind now.

“The ship is much newer than Gideon, she was created in Central City by a man named Barry Allen.”

“How did she end up on your ship?”

“That is a very long and convoluted story that I’m afraid we simply don’t have time for,” Rip said drily. Gideon herself barely liked to talk about her past, he ventured it was due to all her time spent with Eobard Thawne.

“Of course it is,” Jiya sighed, “Do you think it - she would know what’s wrong with me?”

“I’m certain she would have theories.  If she were here, I would take you on board and run tests, with your permission, then we’d work from there.”

“You can fit a medspace in your ship?” Jiya frowned in confusion.

“Oh yes, it’s much larger than this Lifeboat.  I reckon the jump ship is a bit bigger than this.”

“You can fit a ship inside your ship.” Jiya’s eyes continued to get bigger. “Wow. I guess you guys have the whole time travelling thing down pat on your Earth.”

“Well, on the side of the ship, go in, seal the door, it can detach.”  Rip cocked his head. “Oh, there are still problems, we are dealing with time.”  Rip glanced through the open door but Wyatt had moved away a bit, out of earshot.  “Think you could help me get a message into space?”

“What kind of message?” Jiya asked unsurely as she glanced at the door.

“Very simple.  Gideon, my initials.  She’ll realise it’s me and I’m alive.”

“You really think you can send a message into another universe? We’re talking a different dimension,” Jiya reminded him.

“I know how complicated it will be to determine even which direction to send it for Gideon to possibly receive it but it’s the least I owe her.  It will require months but when I do have it ready, will you help?”

“The calculations alone will probably take up whatever server power we have left,” Jiya agreed, “We’d need that whenever we’re going after Rittenhouse, so you’d have to put it on hold then.”

“That’s a tentative yes?” Rip asked.

“We would still have to ask Agent Christopher to make sure, but if we can get you home, then it’s probably what’s best for all of us anyways,” Jiya said. “And if...if Gideon did know something, about me?”

“I’m not sure it will be possible to get me home, a message reaching her is much easier to accomplish.  If we are able to reach her and communicate, we will investigate any theories she has, if you’re willing.”

“Would she be looking for you? I mean if her pilot goes missing, is she programmed to report back to someone?”

“If she’s convinced I’m dead, then she isn’t looking.  If she isn’t… then she’s doing anything she can think of to locate me.  If I can send her a message, she’ll be able to trace the signal. Either she’ll send a message in return… or she’ll show up.”

“Show up? Here?”

“In the bunker? No.  On this Earth somewhere? Yes.”

“She can just go universe hopping like that?” 

“Not ‘just like that’, it will be a first, but if it’s at all possible to travel here, she will.”

“Because you’re here,” Jiya realized.

“Yes.”

“Then we better hope she’s looking for you. It’ll be easier to send a signal if someone’s expecting to receive one.”

“Agreed.”

“We should get back to the others. I think that’s enough exploring for you and Wyatt is getting antsy I’m sure,” Jiya said pointing to the door.

“Is there a good supply of paper here?” Rip asked as he stood up.

“Yeah, luckily paper is something we have plenty of. We’re not really allowed to leave the bunker, in case Rittenhouse finds any of us,” Jiya explained as they exited. Wyatt nodded at them when he saw them come out.

Rip glanced around.  “I’ve been in worse places.”

“That’s sad,” Jiya said bluntly, “but Flynn was in maximum security prison before we broke him out so.”

“Survived it, I expect I’ll survive this.”

Jiya said nothing else as they came upon the rest of the team where Rufus was excitedly showing them Rip’s plans and sketches. 

“...so basically, like an accordian, you see this equation here? I think if we tweaked the one that we have - yeah, the second variable then we could do it. Go to the future!”

“It will cost money to implement those changes,” Rip said, glad for proof he had impressed someone.

“Which is something that we don’t have right now,” Agent Christopher interrupted, trying to throw off the starry-eyed look Connor had.

“Yes, yes, but at some point, I might have money again, and then we can do all this,” Connor said excitedly with a hand on Rufus’ shoulder in solidarity.

“Have you made any decisions regarding me?” Rip winced inwardly at the stern look on her face.  He hadn’t meant to add to her problems.

Denise sighed and looked between her teammates. “I suppose since we’re trusting Flynn, we might as well trust you too.”

“I assume there are rules?”

“Rule one - don’t leave the bunker. None of you are supposed to.” She gave them all a stern look. There had been a lot of near-misses.  “We’ll figure out sleeping arrangements later, but chances are you’ll be out on a couch for a while.”

“What am I allowed access to?”

“Bathroom, main living area, kitchen, and limited access to Lifeboat and supporting systems under guidance of Rufus or Jiya.”

“No one knows me yet.  If you need a supply run, you should use me once before I’m under lockdown too.”  He did have a certain yearning to see for himself how different this planet was from his.

“I’ll keep that in mind, but for now you stay here until I say so. Those are the rules,” Denise said firmly. “You’ll understand if I have no desire to be chasing down a rogue time traveller who doesn’t belong here through the streets. Again.”

“There might have been a slight problem with bringing JFK to the future,” Lucy said quietly.

He nodded.  “Quite literally, I have nowhere else to go.  If you take me up on my offer, I would expect to be fully briefed.  Money between worlds might not look the same, and so on. Permission to look around?”

“I’m sure Lucy would love to give you the grand tour, and give you a brief history of our Earth,” Flynn volunteered the woman.

“I - what? I mean, sure. I would love to, yeah,” Lucy nodded.

That distinctly looked like a power play to Rip.  “Don’t feel obligated. I can do the penny tour now, if you have something else you’d rather do.”

“No, no, I don’t mind. Really,” Lucy took a step forward, holding an arm out as if to display the bunker. “Come on, there’s not much to this place anyways, probably saw half of it when we walked you over here. But it will give us a good opportunity to see how our timelines are different.”

He nodded at Lucy then asked Agent Christopher, “My revolver?”

“Stays with me for now. If we’re under attack, you’ll get it back.”

“It’s future, different world technology.  Some of you should understand the implications of that,” he said, looking in turn at Connor, Rufus and Jiya.  “Tempting to examine, but much better if you don’t.”

“Which is why it will be kept with me, and no one is allowed access to it. Do I make myself clear?” She gave everyone a stern look. There was a muttering of ‘yesses’ among them, Connor sporting a childish pout and Flynn looking upset for completely different reasons.

“Thank you for your kind offer.  Let’s see my current world.” Rip turned back to his guide.

Lucy nodded and led him through the halls. “So bedrooms up and down here. We’ll have to see about getting you a spot for however long you’re here. You saw the Lifeboat area, that’s where we land and make our trips. Jiya, Connor, and Agent Christopher monitor us from there...kitchen is down this way, don’t get your hopes up for anything too fancy, bathroom here, there’s only one so we share….and then the storage place, where you ended up when you first landed.”

“And the exit? So I don’t accidentally set off any alarms?”

"Down the hall that way, you'll know because you hit a big steel door you can't get past. And also on this side," Lucy pointed, "And if you did try to leave without permission, we'd know because the alarms would sound like when you first showed up."

"Mmmmm.  Not that I have anywhere to go.  Tell me a little about yourself?" Rip asked.

"Well I'm a historian. I teach - well I used to teach, before all this," Lucy gestured around them, "happened. My mother gave me my love of history. And as it turns out, she's also Rittenhouse. And so is my father." Lucy stared blankly at a wall, not wanting to go into the details, she changed the subject slightly. "I had a fiancé. Or well - sort of, didn't really know him too well. In the original timeline I had a sister, and  then we time travelled and I lost Amy and got a fiancé."

The perils of time travel.  "I'm sorry about your sister.  That must have been like part of you had been ripped away, and worse, no-one to talk to about her, no shared memories of what you love about her."

"It was. My own mother didn't know who she was," Lucy whispered. "Rittenhouse, their plans, changing history to favour the outcome they want. They're essentially taking over the world without us even knowing."

"How did they get the name Rittenhouse?"

"Their founder, his name was Dvid Rittenhouse. His followers believed in his ridiculous ideals. So they named it after him."

"What are their ideals, anything specific?" Rip asked.

"Mostly? Just overturning major events throughout history. They have sleeper agents, and sometimes they change smaller things that domino into bigger things. They want someone they can control in a place of power," Lucy said vaguely. "Unfortunately Rittenhouse works under secrecy. I was never trusted enough to know the details, and it's like everyone has a piece of the puzzle but not the whole story. Flynn might know more, he made it his mission to take them down."

"Yes, I'm sure he'll unburden himself to me easily," Rip said drily.

"Fair point."

"How do you keep yourself sane in here?" Rip asked.

Lucy shrugged, "I don't know. Everyone has their own thing. For me, I don't have anywhere else to go. My sister is gone, no significant other, and the woman who raised me works for the organization that's trying to do unspeakable things to history. The one thing I thought we both held dear."

"A betrayal of everything you thought," Rip said softly.

"Yes."

He nodded, understanding all too well.  The Time Masters, particularly the one he looked up to and trusted the most, Druce, had betrayed Rip completely, shatteringly.  "Impossible to believe in anything, afterwards," Rip said.

"I guess you experienced something similar? Was your family secretly evil too?" Lucy gave a slight smile.

"Something like that," he said.  The Time Masters could taint him, throw into doubt everything he knew about time travel, if the people here knew about them.

Lucy nodded, taking his silence as him not wanting to talk about it. She could relate. "So what did you do in your Earth exactly? Just travel through time for fun?"

"More of a calling, I, and others like me, would try to keep the timeline on track.  Yes, devastating at times."

"So you're like the time police."

"Yes, pretty much."

"I'd like to know more about your timeline," Lucy said eagerly, "I mean the major events, the people. How similar or different they are."

"Let's sit down and you can tell me about yours too," Rip said as he spotted several empty tables and chairs.

* * *

 

On his second full day in the bunker, Rip had been given a change of clothes and on his third, washed the clothes he had arrived in and worn the ill-fitting shirt and jeans on the fourth day.  He was currently seated at a table with his permanently borrowed pen and paper in front and to his side, as he read through a book on astronomy, trying to find enough clues to remember the numerical designation for this planet.  Every so often he would sip his glass of water as he longed repeatedly for something stronger. Any time he read something of interest, he wrote it on the paper.

He heard someone behind him and looked up. Jiya held her hands up in surrender, "Sorry didn't mean to startle you. How's it coming along?"

"Excruciatingly slowly."  He waved at the chair opposite.

Jiya took the chair and sat down in it. "Anything I can help with? Things are pretty quiet with the team traveling, and there's not much we can do until they get back."

"Yes, invent a dimension jumper with time travel capability so I can go back and pay more attention to the multiverse class," he said bitterly, then glanced at her.  "Sorry. Not your fault. Just need to be able to remember the universal designation for this planet and I can't. Nothing's jumping out either so--"

"Okay, how about you just take a deep breath," Jiya calmed him down. "You're going to figure this out."

"And I can't even go for a walk to clear my head," he growled quietly in frustration.

"Neither can the rest of us," Jiya reminded him.

"Yeah but at least you were hired the regular way," Rip said.  This... situation... had driven home the realisation of how self-destructive he could be.  "Give me something else to solve, anything."

Jiya looked around at her workspace for something productive he could help on without giving away any government secrets. "Here." She handed him a paper that Rufus had written some spare thoughts on. "You got Rufus and Mason thinking about going to the future, trying to one up Rittenhouse. But they can't quite figure it all out."

"Got a pencil?" he asked.  When he was sure it was correct, he would copy it with the pen, that would give his subconscious more time to figure out his primary problem.  "Oh, and a tiny screwdriver? My watch died." He wanted to open his Time Courier and find out if he could salvage anything.

Jiya handed him the pencil in her hand. She frowned at the mention of the screwdriver, "I'll see if I can find one in the sparse set of tools we have." She got up and left him on his own again. He turned off the tablet, grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and went to work.  If he was lucky, he could stretch this out until tomorrow night. 

“Mr. Hunter, I just wanted to check in and see how you are doing,” Agent Christopher came up behind him.

"Trying to keep busy and out of the way," Rip said.  "Would you like to join me?"

"I can. Not sure how much help I'll be though," she said taking Jiya's abandoned seat.

"Give me full access to your technology and you will."  Before she could react, he sighed. "Impossible, I know."

“Don’t look so glum. I put the same restrictions on everyone here, not just my team,” she assured him. “If you want a show of faith, then I’ve been considering your request on going on a supply run.”

“I’m your man.”

“I’m assuming Lucy went over the basics of money and how everything works on our Earth?”

“We got to talking about history and forgot about that.”

“Let’s see then,” Denise pulled out her purse. “Money - tell me if you recognize any of it.” She laid out bills and different coins. It was easier to pay in cash than get traced with a credit card these days.

“Hundred cents to a dollar? Hmmm, a three dollar bill.”  That was new. A penny, nickel, dime, but the next was a twenty cent coin and a four bits one, a fifty cent coin.  “Five, ten, fifty, hundred.”

“Think you can manage it?” Denise asked. Rip nodded easily. “Alright then, we’ll get you a list. Basic items for emergency - flashlight, water, canned food, and extra batteries. Might as well get some clothes for yourself, I imagine it isn’t much fun wearing Wyatt’s old things.”

“How much is the sales tax?”

“Seven percent.”

“Car? Some sort of gps?” He wasn’t sure if they did have the latter.

“We’ll see about a car. Bus route is probably safest, Rittenhouse has found our cars before and I haven’t gotten around to having the license plates changed. I’m sure Jiya would be willing to give her phone for the day for gps, and if not, well there are plenty of paper maps lying around here. And you look like you catch on quick. Obviously, we’ll be putting a tracker in you. Basic protocol along with a camera, for safety reasons as well.”

“All right, I’ll need to know where I am and where the stores are, so I can plan my route.”

“I’ll get you what you need. I don’t plan on sending you out blind,” Denise said. “If I can, I may send one of my men with you.”

“Understood.”

“Alright, I’ll get back to you with a proper list and a map or two. Jiya can explain where everything is, can’t you?” Denise turned to the side where Jiya had just returned.

“Yeah, sure,” Jiya nodded as she walked back over, screwdriver in hand. Denise nodded at them and went on her way.

“Ta,” he said, as he took the screwdriver.

Jiya watched as he took off his ‘watch’ and started working on it. “That isn’t a normal watch, is it?” She realized. “My dad used to have this impressive watch collection, one of the first things I used to play with when I was younger. I’ve taken them apart before. And yours look nothing like the ones I’ve seen. So are watches really that different, or is it something else?”

Rip froze for a microsecond.  “Something else,” he said, feeling horribly exposed.

“What is it?” Jiya asked eagerly, leaning in.

“Buggered beyond repair.”  Disappointment wrapped around him like a second skin.  He had expected it but it still hit him like a boulder.  He brought it closer to examine it better. “However, this little beauty,” he held it so she could see the sole surviving circuitry, “is an excellent signal booster.”  He took the silver metal backing and screwed it tightly into place, so the precious technology wouldn’t be lost.

“How does it work? What’s it supposed to do normally?” Jiya continued with her questioning.

Why couldn’t she just leave it alone?  “Back on my Earth, it’s an escape plan.  But it can’t get me home from here.”

“But you’re going to try and use it as some sort of beacon? For Gideon?”

“Yes.  If I can figure out where and how to send it, it will boost the range if the technology is compatible.”

“So, you still need to figure out the signal first.”

“Yes.  If I can figure out which Earth this is, I can backtrack to mine.”

“Alright, then let’s figure out which Earth this is. I mean, we figured out time travel, we can map out the multiverse.” Jiya smiled. “But, hopefully it doesn’t take as long.”

“Yeah.”  Gideon might not give up but it was possible that the longer it took him to signal her, the longer it would take her to check once more for any sort of message.

“So, if every universe is simply a splinter universe based on different choices made as the multiverse theory suggests, then we should be able to find our relative position to your universe given how different everything is here in comparison to there.”

“We’re human, that’s a start.”

“Yeah, you could have ended up in a universe where single-celled organisms were just starting out!”

“Oh god.”  He never would have been able to send a signal.

“But luckily, you’re here,” Jiya reminded him. “Lucy said the two of you talked about the two timelines. Apparently there weren’t too many differences until all the jumping back and forth, chasing Rittenhouse and Flynn on our side.”

“True.  And I get to do some exploring soon.”

“They’re letting you out of this cage?”

“Agent Christopher is sending me for supplies.”

“Nice, I guess they’re coming around to trusting you then.” Jiya smiled at him.

“Or it’s a test.”

“Could be. But if we can trust you like you keep saying than you have nothing to worry about,” Jiya shrugged, “Agent Christopher is usually pretty straightforward.”

“She said I could borrow your phone for the gps.”

“Oh yeah,” Jiya pulled her phone out, “I guess you don’t really know where anything is around here. Just don’t read through my texts, or search history.”

He nodded.  “Would I be shocked by your search history?”

“Depends on how familiar you are with aerospace and mechanical engineering with a touch of astrophysics.”

“A bit.”

“Well you’re still not allowed to look. We barely get any privacy in here, I’d like to keep what little of it there is.”

“All right.  Show me how to pull up maps and bus schedules.”

Jiya took the phone and showed him the app, which buttons to press for the maps and how to pull up the bus schedules and see how much longer it would take to get to another stop. “So, is all this technology outdated in your time?” she asked conversationally.

“Where I’ve recently been, it’s on par.”

“Well, that’s good news for you. More proof that this universe shouldn’t be too far from your own.”

“Still leaves an awful lot to sift through.”

“Yeah, it does,” Jiya agreed. “But I can help, okay?”

“I’d like that.”

“Good.”

* * *

 

Over the past couple of weeks Rip had gained more trust among the team. After the supply run went well-Agent Christopher allowed him a detour to the bookstore to pick up some information about this world - the team was slowly coming around to him. Some more than others. Connor Mason had even taken him aside one night with Rufus for a drink where they had discussed possible additions to the Lifeboat. Red wine wasn't Rip's usual drink of choice, but it was better than nothing. He could practically hear Gideon nagging in his ear, he hadn’t realised how much he missed the sound of her voice. But Jiya was making good on her promise on sending out a signal for Gideon. They had tried a few so far, but there was no response. Either they hadn't worked or he had been gone so long, Gideon had given up on him. Rip wasn't sure which option he preferred. 

"Rittenhouse alert!" Denise yelled as an alarm went off and they all gathered around the Lifeboat. 

“The Sommes, 1916,” Jiya announced.

“JRR Tolkien served there on my Earth,” Rip said before Lucy could get a word out.  “ _ The Hobbit _ ?  _ Lord of the Rings _ ?”

“We have those here too!” Rufus said, “They’re going after Tolkien?”

“Makes sense,” Lucy shrugged. “Tolkien practically created the genre of fantasy, so many modern authors have cited him as their source of inspiration. And without fantasy we wouldn’t have--”

“Harry Potter!” Rufus cried.

“Well yes,” Lucy conceded. “But I was also going to say the arts, the creativity, freedom of expression. We’d all just be robots, which might as well be what Rittenhouse wants!”

“I would be valuable on this mission, Agent Christopher -  fellow British subject, afterall. And Americans, I hate to say, were barely tolerated,” Rip said.  

Agent Christopher nodded, “Alright there are four seats, you can be the fourth. Flynn, you’re staying behind on this one.” Flynn shrugged and took it for what it was.

“Agent Christopher, are you sure about this?” Wyatt asked quietly. But still loud enough for Rip to hear.

“Yes. He was a time traveller in his own Earth-”

“And he knows his Earth’s history, not this one.”

“He’s going. My decision is final, Wyatt. So either you go with it, or Flynn goes in your place,” Denise said clearly. Wyatt nodded and took a step back, agreeing.

“Arrive, liberate appropriate clothing, acquire a lift?” Rip asked.

“Something in that order,” Wyatt muttered irritably.

“Yup!” Lucy smiled at him.

Rip smiled back slightly and followed them into the Lifeboat claiming the last seat and buckled in.

“I don’t know how time travel works in your world, but it gets a little bumpy over here,” Rufus warned.

“People tend to get sick the first few times,” Lucy elaborated.

“There have been bumpy rides,” Rip said, as Rufus did his magic and the Lifeboat began to shake.

“Hold on,” Rufus gave one last warning. Lucy and Wyatt held onto their restraints, closing their eyes like always. Rip kept his eyes open, wanting the experience once and also held on tightly. He felt it when they landed, the Waverider never had such landings. Gideon would never allow it. But this landing jostled them around quite a bit, shaking them in their chairs.

“Made it,” Rufus announced, once the dust had settled.

They practically fell out of the Lifeboat and Rip stood with his hands on his knees, waiting for the effects to kick in. Except nothing happened and he stood up straight again. 

“I suppose this means I’ve had enough time travel experience on my own Earth,” he commented lightly. The landing had been hard and he still felt it in his knees as he turned around, trying to determine what direction to strike out in.

“Well, clothes first,” Lucy announced, “Or we won’t fit in. Did you have wardrobes filled with period clothes on your Earth to fit in?”

“There’s a fabricator room on my ship to create whatever’s needed.  Recycle the clothes, out come new ones.”

“Cool,” Rufus commented.

“Clothes, shall we?” Wyatt reminded them. Within the next hour or so they had managed to find appropriate clothing for everyone. Lucy had a nurse’s dress, while the men had found themselves uniforms.

“I still don’t like stealing,” Rufus complained. “Just feels wrong.”

Rip straightened the hem of his uniform jacket.  “Borrow. Hopefully change back to our own before leaving.”  He tugged his hat one last time.

“Sometimes these missions don’t always go to plan,” Lucy warned. “Rittenhouse is often times steps ahead of us, already thought of everything.”

“Think they already have a sleeper agent on Tolkien?” Wyatt asked.

“I don’t know, it’s possible. All our other targets have had them.”

“Isolate, guard, and see that he’s sent back to England on schedule?” Rip asked.

Wyatt nodded in agreement. “Rufus and I can handle finding the sleeper agents if you and Lucy want to get Tolkien to safety for now.”

“Whistle if you need help,” Rip said.  “Nurse Preston, shall we?”

“Ready,” Lucy nodded. They left the other two, arguing over who should be allowed to whistle and made their way through the crowd. “So what’s the plan, should I fake a British accent?”

“Please, no.”  He could only imagine how painful it would be to the ears.  “I’m a doctor, you’ve been assigned to me to replace my usual nurse.  I suppose ‘Rip Hunter’ doesn’t inspire confidence, so Doctor Michaels will do.  You charm him, we move him to somewhere can defend. See any empty buildings so far?”

“With the nurses running around attending to patients, it wasn’t uncommon that you could find an empty tent. Usually with medical supplies. They were so busy taking care of the wounded, they could only spare one person at a time to go for a supply run. If we find one of those, we should be good.”

“Temporary shelter.  If we’ll be here for days, a building is easier to defend.”

“We’ll make do. First thing is finding Tolkien around here. Any ideas?”

“One of the tents for the sick, most likely.”

“Alright then, let’s go,” Lucy said and led the way to some of the tents towards the front. Rip followed after her as he looked around.  This reminded him strongly of the last time he’d briefly met Tolkien. They weaved in and out of tents, making excuses of who they were and what they were doing, not so different from his usual line of work then. He paused when he recognized a familiar face. Apparently, Tolkien looked the same in both universes.

“Lucy--” He cut himself off when he didn’t see her anywhere. He looked around frantically and couldn’t find her anywhere. “Lucy!”

They’d forgotten to pick a name for her.  “Nurse Preston!” He quieted himself as he noticed the strange looks he was starting to get. Rule One of time travel is to be invisible, discreet changes only. He saw a brief glance of a brunette leaving the tent with a man. Lucy!

Trying not to be noticed, Rip went after them.  Before he could reach them, one of the nurses stalked towards him.

“Are you a doctor?” she demanded.

Bollocks.  “Yes, but I’m--”

“Good, we have a man here in severe pain. We’re thinking amputation might be required. I’ve been trying to get someone for hours, where have you been?”

“Busy with other patients,” Rip snapped.

The nurse glared at him and grabbed his arm. “You know, I have had just about enough of you male doctors, all think you’re so much better than us. Well let me tell you, Sir, we are also trying to save lives here!”

“As was I, nurse,” he said as he wrenched his hand free.  “Where’s your patient?”

“Right this way.” She nodded and led him further into the tent when all he wanted to do was leave. She pulled him towards an ailing man, seemingly delirious. “I’m afraid he’s catching a fever from the infection.”

What was worse than the killing at the front, was how many soldiers perished in such inhumane conditions at the so-called hospitals.  “What’s his temperature?”

“He’s burning up considerably. Temperature is around 102 degrees.” 

“Need to get that down,” Rip said, distracted by both the soldier and his own mission.

“Yes, we are working on it,” the nurse replied, gesturing to the cool rags on the patient’s forehead. “I’m afraid the fever won’t stop unless we do something about the infection though.”

“I have a few urgent cases to attend to but continue what you’re doing.”

“This is also urgent!” she snapped at him. She looked him over once before demanding, “And where is your equipment?”

“Attend to your patient, nurse,” Rip said coldly as he strode away. He ignored her gaping like a fish and spluttering protests as he headed for the exit again. He had to find Lucy and Tolkien, get them both to safety. These tents were hardly durable.

Where had they got to? He looked around quickly as he reached the exit. There were people buzzing around him everywhere. He was pushed aside a couple of times. He made hasty apologies but it did nothing to stop the glares in his direction.

He sighed and stopped the next man he saw. “Excuse me, I don’t suppose you’ve seen a nurse walk through here recently? Brunette, brown eyes, had a patient with her. I’m afraid she’s needed in the med tent again.”

“Not sure, you might want to try down that way,” the man pointed to the right, “Plenty of nurses at the other stations. Might find her in one of those. If not, grab anyone that’s willing to help.”

“Thank you.”  He walked quickly away. Instead of heading right, he headed left towards the empty tents. If Lucy was following the plan then she would have chosen one of the more abandoned tents.

Please let her be following the plan.  He repeated the mantra silently in his head as he avoided the crowds on his walk. Finally, towards the last row of tents he thought he saw a glimpse of Lucy’s brown hair.

He almost broke into a run, was it her? He was about to call her name when something caught his eye. Instead he found himself shouting a different word all together.

“Grenade!”

He flung himself away from it as best he could as he hoped desperately his warning had been heard. The explosion rocked the ground around them, he could feel the earth rumble under his body. There was smoke everywhere, and a distant screaming through the ringing of his ears. He pushed himself to his feet and ran towards where he thought he had last seen Lucy. It felt like the ground was tilting under his feet, but he did his best to keep steady as he pushed through the crowd.

“Lucy! Nurse Preston!” Rip yelled. He stopped and rested. What was the plan? If they got separated they were to make their way back to the Lifeboat. Perhaps he could find Rufus and Wyatt there, and together they could find Lucy. No doubt they would be angry with him for losing sight of her in the first place. And if she had been hurt...

Maybe he should search for just a couple more minutes. He wandered through the crowd, clumsily pushing his way through people and getting shoved aside in the chaos himself. He called out Lucy’s name a few more times. On one occasion he even tried Tolkien. But they were nowhere to be found.

He hurried back to the Lifeboat. Despite what he had earlier thought, he kept his period clothes on as he made his way back to the time machine. He was far more concerned with Lucy’s well-being. As the Lifeboat came into view he saw Wyatt and Rufus leaning against it. Along with Lucy and Tolkien.

Wait, Tolkien wasn’t supposed to see the Lifeboat.

“What is this strange contraption?” the author marveled at the Lifeboat.

“You know what, let’s not get too close,” Rufus pulled him away and glared at Lucy who simply shrugged in return.

“I got worried when I couldn’t find you,” Lucy said to Rip, “The explosion happened and it was all crazy. Had to bring him back here, didn’t know where was safe. I’m glad you made it back though.”

“I searched for you for a few minutes,” he said to explain his delay.  “He mustn’t be allowed to remember this.”

“We usually just go with suspension of disbelief,” Wyatt admitted, “Usually works. Haven’t changed too many things.”

“Shame he’s a fantasy author, not science fiction,” Rip whispered.

“Suspension of disbelief,” Wyatt repeated. “Sleeper agents are taken care of, but Emma got away.”

“Which means she and my mother are still out there plotting,” Lucy sighed.

“Perhaps if we get him drunk, he’ll forget or put it down to delirium,” Rip said quietly.

“That should work,” Wyatt agreed, “War like this, there’s got to be some booze lying around in the bunks or trenches. Only thing to keep them sane.”

“Well, we’d better find some and make sure he’s properly drunk before we leave.”

Wyatt nodded and looked at Lucy and Rufus. “You two going to be okay on your own for a little bit?”

“Yeah, just hurry back,” Lucy answered.

“We will,” Rip said, as Tolkien reeled.  Rip caught him and gently propelled him in the direction they wanted to go. Wyatt followed after him, and they made their way to the bunks at the edge of camp silently.

“Alright Tolkien, what do you have to drink around here?” Wyatt asked as they entered.

“Drink? But that object-”

“What’s that, old man?” Rip asked.  “Check the trunk,” he said to Wyatt.  “Not sure what you’re on about, to be frank,” Rip said, turning his attention back to Tolkien.  “You must have been seeing things.”

“I most certainly am not! I know what I saw!” Tolkien argued.

Meanwhile, Wyatt dug through the trunk and pulled out a flask of whiskey victoriously. “Gotcha!” Rip watched as the lid was screwed off and handed to Tolkien.

“What do you expect me to do with this?” he asked.

“Drink it,” Wyatt said, “A toast to surviving another day and to the strange things you’ve seen. Go on now.”

Rip nodded encouragingly. Tolkien continued to stare at them both in confusion, but hesitantly took a sip from the flask.

“Gonna need more than that,” Wyatt muttered to Rip. “I could make this a lot quicker with a knock to the back of the head.”

Rip glared at him.  What if he hurt Tolkien far more than he meant? “To returning home!”

The man in question took another drink. Wyatt sighed and continued to egg him on, “To winning the war!” Even if they hadn’t yet, it was good for morale. The cheers continued on. Minutes later, the flask was empty.

“You should probably lie down now,” Wyatt steadied the staggering Tolkien, “Sleep all that off.”

“Yes, yes, I better,” he responded sluggishly.

They helped him on to the bed and made him relatively comfortable before they left.  “Better retrieve our clothes,” Rip said.

Wyatt agreed and they set off to their hiding place where they had stashed their clothes. The two changed back into their modern clothing and Wyatt grabbed the clothes for Rufus and Lucy before they headed back to the Lifeboat. Once everyone was back in their regular garb, they boarded the ship.

“Next stop, home sweet home,” Rufus announced.

For some, anyway.

The moment they opened the doors to the bunker, Denise was already asking how it went.

“Sleeper agents taken care of, Tolkien safe and sound, Emma got away again,” Wyatt reported.

“Hey Jiya, can  you pull up a Wiki summary on Tolkien real quick?” Rufus asked excitedly.

“Uh yeah, sure. Give me a sec.” Jiya tapped away on her tablet and handed it to Rufus.

He grinned and passed it around to the team, “Looks like we had a lasting effect on Tolkien.”

“‘Many of his earlier works mention a spherical object, larger than any man. A gleaming vessel said to hold travellers from another world.’ Would you look at that,” Lucy smiled.

“Bollocks.”

“All things considered, we would actually consider this one a win,” Denise told Rip with a smile.

“All things considered, could have tried to do a little better.”

“We do our best,” Lucy said, “Sometimes, history still shifts a little.”

Trouble was, he’d wanted to make an excellent impression on his first trip.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written before we knew Timeless would be doing a Civil War storyline, so our version is very different

It wasn’t until three weeks later and five more attempts to reach Gideon that Rip finally had another opportunity to prove himself. The alarms for Rittenhouse were a normal occurrence to him at this point as he made his way to the Lifeboat holding area. Denise trusted him enough to help Jiya and Connor man the computers while the rest of the team were time travelling.

“April 5th, 1865, Virginia!” Jiya announced.

“No, no, why does it have to be the Civil War? And in the South!” Rufus asked rhetorically.

“And that’s just before the end of the war,” Lucy said with a sigh.

“You think they’re going to try and change the outcome of the war?” Wyatt asked.

“On April 9th, General Lee was supposed to surrender to General Ulysses Grant of the Union Army. The Civil War is easily the bloodiest battle fought by the US, and against our own people. If they can have the South win-divide and conquer. Sounds like a good strategy to me,” Lucy explained.

“Unfortunately, that makes sense,” Rip said.

“I remember reading something about this,” Flynn said, “something about a letter.”

“They’re going to warn the troops,” Lucy said.

“We need to get to Lee first, cut Rittenhouse off,” Wyatt said.

Rip coughed pointedly.  “Could pretend to be someone the Confederate government would want to deal with,” Rip said.

“At the time, the Confederacy did depend a lot on Great Britain and France. While their stance was neutral, cotton trade was important to them, what with the textile industry booming. He could be a key stakeholder,” Lucy said.

“I’m not sure about this,” Denise said.

“You have a better way to approach the leaders of the South?” Rip asked.  “Not exactly my home but I have been successful in this manner before.”

“You’ve visited the Civil War on your Earth?” Connor asked for clarification.

“Indeed.” Rip changed his accent slightly, becoming quite posh.

“If he goes with us, then one of them will have to stay back,” Rufus pointed at Wyatt and Flynn.

“Wyatt stays back on this one,” Denise said easily.

“What, no. That isn’t fair!” Wyatt argued.

“You’re still hurt from your last mission. Don’t think I don’t notice the way you’re carrying yourself. Flynn goes, you stay. My decision is final.”

“Boss’ orders,” Flynn grinned at him.

“Just remember I’m not the enemy,” Rip muttered.

“Of course,” Flynn grinned somewhat maniacally. “Shall we?” he gestured to the Lifeboat. He headed up the stairs first. Rufus sighed, said his byes to Jiya and made his way in as well. Lucy nodded to Wyatt and followed right after.

Before Rip could go up as well, Wyatt grabbed his arm. “Look after them for me,” he said.

“Planned to.” Rip gave him one last look before entering the Lifeboat.

“Alright everyone, strap yourselves in. Safety first,” Rufus said. Under his breath he muttered, “Civil War, here we come. Yay.” Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder at his words. He looked at her gratefully before starting the time machine. This ride was as bumpy as the last one Rip remembered. And it was only a matter of time until they landed again. Virginia, 1865.

“Clothes first,” Flynn said as they walked out. Rip’s were going to be the hardest to find, they needed to fit his story.

“I guess I’m going with one of the freedmen of the North?” Rufus asked.

“Rufus, if it gets too dangerous then you get back to the Lifeboat. Understand?” Lucy said.

“American history has never been kind to black people, Lucy. There’s danger everywhere.”

Also when.  The future improved but there were still prejudices. 

With Flynn’s help they managed to find appropriate clothing for the team. Rip’s was a bit harder to come by, but they made do with what they had. He gave the clothes a vigorous brush down before donning them.

“Plan: I’ll go with Rip and we’ll see if we can get to General Lee before Rittenhouse does,” Lucy said. “Flynn, Rufus, take out any sleeper agents you find. And stay out of sight if you can.”

Rufus clearly didn’t like being left with Flynn. But he grumbled along and left with the other man.

“April 9th is when General Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse. I’m guessing our best bet is finding the troops near there,” Lucy said.

“Agreed.  Let’s avoid finding them by having them fire on us, shall we?”

“Works for me,” Lucy smiled. “I’d say given where we landed, we should head West. Should hit it in maybe a mile, mile and a half.” They struck out together, walking close but not touching.

“Did things pan out the same way on your Earth? Slavery, Civil War, racial   discrimination, you know,” Lucy asked.

“Yes.  Still an ongoing problem but it’s gotten better.”

“In your time too? What year are you from again?”

“I move around.”  He sighed quietly, he knew this would come up.  “I think my earliest memory is the Victorian era, living on the streets.  When I was taken to a home with other children, the woman there worked for the Time Masters but was also our mother, fiercely protective of us in whatever ways she could,  We didn’t have any contact with the locals so that could have been at any time. There was electricity and computers. Haven’t come across a computer like those again, not yet.  Lived for a while in the mid- twenty-second century, between missions. A few years after that, back to early twenty-first century with the Time Bureau.”

“You really have time travelled your whole life,” Lucy said quietly. “They raised you to be a time traveller, literally. Guess it’s sort of how like my mom tried to groom me for Rittenhouse. Even if I didn’t know it.”

“I suppose it is.  A devastating betrayal when you realise it.”

“The organization that you worked for, you said you realised they were corrupt as well. Must have been hard to come to terms with it.”

“Yes.  My life still feels like a lie.”

“I think I get a little of how that feels,” Lucy muttered. “When I found out about my mom...it was like I had lost everything. Everything that I knew to be true was wrong. I always thought she was my one safe space, well, her and Amy. Now I have neither.”

“I thought I’d always have Gideon.”

“Gideon,” Lucy repeated, as if tasting the name on her tongue. “Jiya mentioned her a few times. Said you two were trying to get a message to her?”

“Yes.  We have resorted to trying to shout into a multitude of universes.  Not really a chance she’ll ever receive it but I like to think she will.”

“And then I guess you’ll try and find a way back to her?” Lucy asked before musing, “Must be nice. Having someone to go back to. That one person that’s your rock.”

“Haven’t figured out that step yet.”

“Well you will. Jiya’s helping, which means she’s probably mentioned it to Rufus also and he’s secretly helping as well. And really it’s only a matter of time Connor catches on if he hasn’t already. And Connor Mason is something of a genius in this universe.”

He knew she was trying to encourage him, but he already knew there wasn’t a way back to his Earth, not from the time period he’d found himself in.  He’d need to travel to the future and find the right parts to not only repair his Time Courier but expand its function. Every time he’d thought he’d accepted he’d never be with his best friend again, something would happen and he’d find himself starting to talk to her then cut himself off.  She wasn’t there and she never would be. 

“Thank you.”

Lucy still noticed the sadness in his voice and couldn’t help but comment. “I know it’s hard to keep hope, but sometimes that’s all you can do. Hope that there’s a happy ending.”

There wouldn’t be one.  He nodded. Lucy didn’t say much else for the rest of the journey other than a random fact or two about the time period. Rip wasn’t too surprised to find that their histories still remained the same in the majority of details.

“We made it,” Lucy said as they came across a hill and found the Confederate camp at its base.

“Now to avoid being shot.”

“Good plan. Know what you’re going to say to General Lee?”

“That Queen Victoria fully supports his efforts and after they’ve won, would like to work out a more lucrative trade deal.”

“Good, let’s go find General Lee then.” They made their way to the campground. Once they came across some of the soldiers they were able to get directions to the General’s tent.

“General Lee,” Lucy greeted in a fake British accent as they entered, “it is such an honour-”

“Yes, I’m sure it is,” he ignored Lucy in favour of speaking with Rip. It was clear from the look on her fact that Lucy was not happy with the connotation. “My men tell me that you bring help from England.”

“Yes, Gideon Michaels. Pleasure to meet you,” Rip shook the General’s hand. He wasn’t entirely sure where the name came from. He had chosen the name Rip Hunter so he wouldn’t need to disclose his real name to anyone. And yet here he was, choosing another alias. One rather close to his heart. He gestured to Lucy who stared at him strangely. “My associate, one of the other ambassador’s wife.”

“Yes, Lucy Gates. Wife of the well known William Gates. I’m sure you’ve heard of him,” Lucy said in an over cheery voice.

“Yes, yes. News reaches me first in these parts,” Lee bragged falsely.

“We’d like to talk in private, if that’s possible,” Rip said, adjusting his accent to be quite uppercrust. Lee looked at his men until they got the message and left the tent.

“What is it Michaels?”

“We come in hopes of striking a deal with you.” Lucy stepped forward. “Britain wanted to offer our aid to the Confederacy. We...believe in your cause...and hope for better trading. We wanted to get here first, before anyone else made a deal with you.”

“Her Royal Majesty dispatched me to ensure this deal comes to fruition,” Rip said.

“I see,” Lee nodded.

“And our competitors, Rittenhouse. Wouldn’t want to trust them, they will betray you,” Lucy said, trying to gauge his reaction to the cult’s name.

“And how do I know you two won’t pull the wool over my eyes?” Lee demanded.

“Do you dare question the word of Her Majesty the Queen?” Rip asked dangerously.  “As her envoy, I speak for Her Majesty.”

“Of course you do. I meant no disrespect to Her Majesty,”

Rip glared at the general until he was thoroughly cowed.

“What support is Britain willing to offer us?” Lee asked.

“The might of Her Majesty The Queen’s Royal Navy.”

Lee stroked his chin, contemplating what this would mean.

“Think of it,” Lucy stepped forward, “With the Royal Navy on your side, you could take control of the waterways and ports. Control the trade, easily win the war.”

“Negotiations should begin soon,” Rip said.

“We need to keep him here,” Lucy whispered next to him. “We can’t risk him wandering out and Rittenhouse getting him.”

“Now, with me, right here,” Rip intoned imperiously.

“If you insist,” Lee gave him a strange look.

“I do.”

* * *

 

“I haven’t forgotten that you shot me,” Rufus continued in his tirade as he followed Flynn. Lucy got the stuffy Brit, but at least she wasn’t stuck with the former psychopathic criminal they had been chasing.

“I thought we had moved past that,” Garcia said casually.

“Yeah, because I always forgive people that shoot me. Makes total sense,” Rufus said sarcastically.

“Like your friend Wyatt isn’t just as trigger happy.”

“At least he hasn’t shot me!”

“Let bygones be bygones. Now hurry up then, we need to find which of these people could be working for Rittenhouse.”

“That isn’t what you said about Rittenhouse, let bygones be bygones”

“I’m sorry, would you rather have them accomplish their goals? Have the Confederacy win? I can only imagine what your life would be like then,” Flynn snarked back.

“I was pointing out the hypocrisy.”

“Shall we stay focused? Rittenhouse is the enemy here,” Flynn reminded him. “Now according to Lucy’s journal, they would have had people placed in influential places for the war. No doubt estate owners.” Slave owners. “I can go in alone, if that would be easier for you.”

“And have you sell me out behind my back? No thank you.”

“You know, that was an olive branch, but fine. Have it your way. If you get hurt, I’m telling Lucy it was your own choice!”

“Tattletale,” Rufus muttered.

“Come on, Rufus. You’re burning daylight!” Rufus continued to grumble as he followed Flynn. “There,” Flynn pointed at the large estate, “We should find our Rittenhouse agent in there.”

“Let’s go find a way in.”

“Simple, the front door,” Flynn said, patting his gun. “Always good to make an entrance.”

“Without being immediately overpowered.”

“Honestly Rufus, you’re such a buzzkill,” Flynn huffed like a child.

“I prefer to keep the dead bodies to a minimum!”

“They’ll all be dead soon enough anyways,” Flynn said with a shrug. “But fine, we will do it your way. I’m open to suggestions.”

“We sneak in.  Come on!”

Flynn sighed and followed Rufus around the back of the house, where they quietly slipped through the servants’ entrance and crept in. Rufus looked around as they made their way deeper into the house.

“See anything yet?” he asked.

“If I did, they’d already be dead,” Flynn returned.

“Some of the people here are innocent!”

“I meant if it was Rittenhouse. Do try and keep up.”

“I’m keeping up just fine!”

Flynn rolled his eyes and continued forward. “If Rittenhouse is here, no doubt they’re trying to charm the owners of this estate.”

Rufus looked like he was about to argue, not wanting to admit that Flynn had a point, then subsided and they continued on.

“I suppose you still don’t trust me enough to split up?” Flynn asked rhetorically. 

“More that it’s safer to stay together,” Rufus said grudgingly.  Safer for Rufus.

“I didn’t know you cared, Rufus!” Flynn grinned. “Come on then.”

Shaking his head, Rufus trailed behind him. Flynn pointedly wandered around by the walls, avoiding the crowds and the looks people shot them. 

“Which one do you think is…?” Rufus asked, quietly.

“Time like this? Most likely a man. Someone in a place of authority. In this era, man with the most slaves I dare say.”

“So any white man basically,” Rufus deadpanned. 

“Yes. Suppose so.”

“Piece of cake.”

“It will be when we find the person talking to the host the most. And who has connections to talk to Lee,” Flynn responded. 

“I guess we should make rounds, find out what the people know.”

“Try not to attract too much attention to yourself. I did promise Lucy you would be fine.”

“I plan not to.”

“See if you can get any information from the servers. I’ll mingle with the guests,” Flynn said. 

“On it.”

The two separated. Flynn made his rounds with the guests, learning what he could about who was invited, whom the host knew best. Rufus asked the servers similar questions-which guest seemed out of place and what not. 

“Find anything?” Flynn asked when they regrouped. 

“Oh yeah, what Smith suffers from, what Davis prefers in the privacy of his own room and don’t even get me started on--!”

“I meant to identify our problem.”

“I was getting to that,” Rufus grumbled, “So it turns out that the host-Jenkins has known Mr. Williams for about three years. Helped him get recognized in town. Apparently he just showed up out of nowhere one day, said he was from out of town.”

“And in this era, he could get away with it. Let’s go pay Mr. Williams a visit, shall we?”

“You read my mind.”

“Don’t suppose your gossip told you where we could find our man?”

“Should be easy for you to find out,” Rufus said, nodding slightly towards the host. Flynn caught sight of the guest their host was talking to. 

“Good eye.”

“Thanks,” Rufus muttered.

“We need to divide and conquer. Provide a distraction. Something to get Jenkins’ attention. I’ll deal with the sleeper.”

Rufus watched, frustrated, as Flynn immediately moved away. He grumbled under his breath. Of course Lucy would get to go off with the secretive Brit and he’d be stuck with their enemy. Who had a gun. He could have gone with Rip. Dude was probably like a James Bond on his earth. 

A distraction.  Hopefully something that wouldn’t get him shot.  Get Jenkins’ attention, right, he could do that, it should be easy in a room where he was the only black man in the room who was not serving something. Rufus moved to the edge of the room, grabbing a tray from one of the servers. Best way to make a scene was to make a mistake. He took the tray of drinks and feigned tripping, spilling all the glasses on the floor. 

Flynn rolled his eyes, that was the best Rufus could do? Flynn was by the sleeper’s side in a few steps, gun in hand, and jabbed the nuzzle against his ribs.

“Come on, we need to have a conversation.” 

He could see in his eyes that he knew exactly how it would end. Flynn pushed the man forward, nodding at Rufus to follow along. 

“Why do I have to be here?” Rufus asked, “Shoot him and let’s go!”

“If you insist.”  Flynn pulled the trigger.

“At least you’re efficient,” Rufus shrugged. “Now let’s get Lucy and Rip, and get out of here!”

“Your wish is my command.”  They sprinted to the front door. 

They made it all the way out to the front lawn, running as fast as they could, when a gunshot split the air.  Rufus screamed in agony as he stumbled and clutched his leg. Flynn turned back and fired, downing someone. 

“We have to go!” He wrapped his left arm around Rufus to help him.

They made their way slowly back to the Lifeboat. It took them much longer than Flynn would have liked and Rufus moaned in pain the majority of the walk. Flynn opened up the door and helped Rufus inside, bandaging his leg up as nicely as he could. 

“You need to stay here. I’m going to go get Lucy and Rip. Alright?”

“Gotta stop the bleeding.”

“Yes, that’s what the bandage is for. Keep pressure on it, alright? Come on, Rufus, you’re going to be fine.”

Right, right, he knew that.  He was just going to blame it on the shock.  “I’ll be fine,” he repeated, as he applied pressure to it.  “Go, get Lucy and Rip.”

Flynn squeezed his shoulder before leaving him. Rufus took deep breaths, applying pressure to the wound as he was told. He didn’t want to think about the blood loss. Or what Jiya would think, seeing him injured again. It occurred to him that the last time this had happened, it was because Flynn had shot him. And now the man was trying to help him. 

Irony at its finest. 

Foggily, Rufus wondered if he should set up the launch sequence to prepare for when the team came on board. 

* * *

 

Lucy looked at Rip, worried.  They were being drawn further and further into their roles and hadn’t Rip noticed? Wasn’t he worried? He seemed entirely too comfortable negotiating with General Lee.

She tried not to think too much about how they were coming around to trusting this man they barely knew. Especially when they would see him in situations like this. He was at ease when he worked with Jiya and he was at ease here in the past. It was strange to think about how easily this man melted into the different eras. 

As if he felt her thinking about him, he shifted so that as he talked, he met her eyes. Lucy hoped she was giving the right nonverbal signals for “be careful, going too far”. There was a sudden outburst outside the tent and then Flynn came tumbling in. 

“We have to go. Now,” he demanded, seemingly unimpressed by General Lee in front of them. 

So much for making a discreet exit.  

“What is the meaning of this?” General Lee began to demand.  

Rip knocked him out with a swift uppercut.  “Haven’t you ever heard of discretion?” He hurried out behind Lucy and Flynn as he wondered how many of Lee’s men they’d have to avoid.

“Not really my area of specialty,” Flynn quipped. 

“He’s more guns blazing type,” Lucy said. 

“Besides, Rufus is hurt. We have to go.”

“What happened?” Lucy demanded. 

“Gun shot. He’s fine for now.”

“How the bloody hell did that happen?” Rip demanded quietly, trying not to draw attention to them.

“Escape plan gone awry. It wasn’t even my fault this time, Lucy,” Flynn insisted. “Rufus can even tell you so when we get back.”

“Are you certain you disposed of the sleeper agent?” Rip asked, once they were clear of the camp.

“Positive. The Rittenhouse sleeper agent is no more.”

“Then how was Rufus shot? Exactly what happened?”

“I would assume it was more due to the backwards notions of this time when a black man fled a notable slave owner’s house,” Flynn snarked back. 

“Perhaps you should have dealt with the situation in such a way that Rufus didn’t have to flee?” Rip pointed out.

“Not my fault. I offered to let him stay at the Lifeboat, he refused,” Flynn raised his arms in exasperation. 

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Lucy interrupted their bickering as the Lifeboat came into view. 

Rip sprinted ahead.  “Rufus?”

Lucy managed to reach before him, out of worry for her friend. “Rufus!” she cried when she saw his prone body. 

“He was fine when I left,” Flynn told her.

“He has a pulse, just passed out,” Lucy sighed in relief. 

“Bugger.  Strap him into the passenger seat, we need to get out of here.”  Why couldn’t this be the  _ Waverider _ or the jump ship?

“Who’s going to fly?” Lucy asked, her eyes flitting to Flynn.

He raised his hands. “Lucy, in case you don’t recall, I kidnapped a man to pilot the Mothership. I can’t fly this!”

“Me,” Rip said as calmly as he could while his heart pounded away.  He helped move Rufus to the passenger chair closest to him then sat and studied the controls.

“Are you sure? Is it close enough to your ship?” Lucy asked as she placed Rufus properly. 

“Jiya and I talked about flying a bit.” Rip evaded the question.  “As I see it, we either try to find help for Rufus here, or I try to get us back to the bunker where Rufus will have a much better chance.”

“Alright, go,” Lucy ordered. 

Rip nodded, pressing the controls and flipping buttons. “Hang on!”  Rufus had managed to start the sequence before passing out so Rip continued it, hoping he was doing it correctly. The take off was rougher than whenever Rufus usually did. And rougher than whenever Rip had handled the Waverider manually. Navigating the time stream was another deal entirely. 

“How are you doing back there?” Rip asked, fighting the controls.

“Your technique could use some work,” Flynn griped. 

“We’re fine,” Lucy said, meaning Rufus was still fine. For now. 

“Feel free to take over,” Rip said through gritted teeth.  “You’ve spent how many hours piloting?” Landing was going to be nerve wracking, if he didn’t get it just so…

It went worse than the takeoff. The Lifeboat skidded to a stop as they entered the bunker. Rip could feel his ears pop from the rough landing. He couldn’t help but think if Gideon had seen him she would have either lectured him or laughed. 

Or both.

He sat, still stunned, as he heard the others unbuckle, open the door and carry Rufus out, he heard Wyatt demanding what had happened and Flynn brushing him off. Rip remained in his chair, breathing hard, face drawn, grateful they hadn’t realised just how badly it could have gone. There was a knock on the door and he found Denise, leaning in. 

“You managed to get them back,” she said. 

“Yes,” he said stoically. 

“Good. You did good. We’ll need to debrief you.”

“Yes.”  Unsure if his hands would cooperate, Rip fumbled with the buckles, freeing himself with some effort.  “I’ll be there in a minute.” When he was sure his legs would support his weight.

“Do you need some help?” She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort. 

“This landing calls for a celebratory drink,” he said, pushing away from the chair and towards the exit.  He did so hope he wouldn’t fall.

Denise caught him as he stumbled slightly and helped him down the stairs. “I’m sure Connor would love to celebrate with you. Jiya is currently with Rufus. He should be fixed up just fine.”

“I rather expected she would be.”  He forced himself to straighten as he reached the floor.  “Where do you want to debrief me?”

“Here will be fine.” She led him to an empty table. “Do you want something to drink? Tea or coffee for now? Alcohol can wait until after.”

A whiskey was never out of place.  “Tea, thank you.” He would wait to lift the cup until he was certain his hands wouldn’t shake and slop it all over himself.

Denise waited until he had gotten his tea and had a moment to breathe. 

“Seeing as you’re not from this world, let’s just start with your version of events.”

He thought for a moment then crisply recounted his experience in the past, leaving out any conjectures, such as Lucy perhaps not fully trusting him.

“History notes the British willing to help the South. I’m guessing this was due to your trip?”

“There were rumours planted.”

“Well the North still won-it was the first question Lucy asked. So I suppose history is still intact and Rittenhouse failed.”

“Good.”

“That’s all I have for you now. I have to debrief Flynn about Rufus and the sleeper agents. You’re free to go, I’m sure Connor would be willing to have a drink with you if Rufus is in the clear. Good job, Mr. Hunter.”

He nodded and stood up, taking his cup with him to rinse it.  He wandered off, trying to stay out of everyone’s way, as he relived the flight and all that could have gone wrong.

He had gotten lucky this time. 

* * *

 

He felt eyes on him so he looked up.

“Need some help?” Jiya asked. 

“How’s Rufus doing?” he sidestepped the question.

“Fine. He’s fine, just irritated by having to rest all the time I think.”

“Tell him he’s in no danger of being replaced.”

“I think he’s more worried about Flynn than you.”

“I can’t fault him for that.”

Jiya nodded in agreement. “So do you need any help?” she repeated. 

“With? If you could conjure some whiskey, I’d appreciate it.”

“Seeing as you’re the only one allowed out for supply runs, I think that’s up to you,” Jiya quipped. “I meant with sending a message. I know that’s what you’re trying to do with your tinkering here.”

Jiya was no fool.  “Yes, all right.”

“Good” She smiled and took the seat next to him. “What have you got so far?”

“I think I’ve got it narrowed down to a few billion stars.  I’d like to narrow it down to thousands, if possible.” He pulled the screwdriver away and handed the contraption to her, to see what she would make of it.

“A homing beacon,” she said as she turned it in her hands. “You think this will help narrow it down?”

“If it doesn’t, I’m out of ideas for now.” Rip admitted.

“Alright, then let’s get it working. I have some ideas,” Jiya encouraged. 

He passed her the screwdriver. Jiya worked deftly, adding spare parts from the table, replacing others and removing a few gears altogether. 

“It looks silly,” Jiya said as she touched the long antenna, “but there’s a chance it helps us get a better signal.”

He took it back and unscrewed the antenna.  He removed his Time Courier and removed the backing.  “Signal booster.” He placed the small, single still intact special feature of his creation at the bottom of the cylinder Jiya had screwed it in.  By habit, he secured the backing again of the ruined device. “You asked me what this did. Once upon a time, I could call up a doorway, portal, to anywhere or when I wanted.”

“Do you think it could open a door back to your world?” Jiya asked the obvious question. 

He laughed bitterly.  “Open it.” He handed it over to her.

She did as he asked and opened it. She looked from the device to him, “It’s damaged.” It was as if the insides had melted together. 

Understatement.  He approved. “Miracle anything survived inside it.  Let’s not waste it.”

“Did this happen because you crossed universes? Or was it ruined before?” Jiya asked. 

“I don’t know.  I suspect just before.”

“What happened, before you came here? Caused you to come here?” Jiya asked. She shrugged. “You just never really said. And I imagine if you can't get back to your Earth, that means you weren't purposely dimension hopping.”

“The most colossal cock up of my life.”

“You know when I asked, I was expecting something with more details,” Jiya responded sarcastically. 

“Time drive, held by yours truly,” he bowed slightly, “met time demon.  It’s possible, worst case scenario, there is no Earth left, no Waverider, no Gideon to pick up the signal, no Time Bureau, no…” Rip fell silent.  “Agent Christopher would probably send me somewhere very secure and unescapable if she hears any of this.”

“So why'd you do it?” Jiya asked quietly. 

“I was the only one in position to remove the time drive.  If it worked, if it was delayed, others may have delayed it further or stopped it entirely.”

“So, saving the universe is just your daily job.”

“Or I just destroyed it.  I have no way to know.”

“I see optimism isn't your strong suit,” she quipped. 

“I’m trying very hard not to get my hopes up.  Even if everything exists and Gideon receives the message, she may not be able to send me one.”

“Didn't you once say she would never give up on you?”

“Yes.  That’s why I’m sending the signal.”

Jiya nodded. “If we're lucky some of the older messages will have gotten to her.”

He’d never been lucky.  “Yes.”

“Alright, let’s go spam Gideon with more love letters,” Jiya grinned. 

He arched his eyebrow  “If she hears you say that, she will vehemently disagree.”

“Do you disagree with it?”

“Yes.  A very compressed sonnet.”

“Come on then, Romeo.”

“You know what happened to Romeo, don’t you? Maybe Benedick.”

“We can discuss casting later. Message in a bottle now.”

“Gideon would kill me if I died before she could reach me.  Well, go back and save me and then kill me and then go back and save me again.”  He stood up and followed Jiya.

“I'd do the same to Rufus,” Jiya admitted. 

“I know,” he said softly.

Jiya set up the computer they had and readied the program while Rip set up his homing beacon. 

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Jiya nodded and pressed a key on the keyboard, signaling the contraption to start its job. 

Please don’t blow up, please don’t blow up, please don’t blow up, Rip repeated to himself as a mantra.  “It’s powering up,” he said as calmly as he could.

“Computer is syncing,” Jiya replied. 

“Continuing as expected.”

“Sync complete. Transcribing message now.”

He waited a few seconds.  “And?”

“Complete,” Jiya announced after a few moments. “Would you like to do the honors?” She gestured to the keyboard. 

He took over after nodding in acceptance.  It would either reach her or not, whoever did it, but it admittedly made him feel better to be the one to send it.

Jiya reached out and squeezed his hand. He startled at the touch. “Sorry,” she said as she dropped his hand, “Just thought it might help. Usually helps me stay calm.”

He offered his hand back.  “Stupid of me to hope for an immediate reply.”

“I'm sure she's out there waiting for some sort of sign,” Jiya said as she took his hand again. 

He didn’t.  “Thank you.”

Jiya simply squeezed his hand tighter. 

* * *

 

“Rittenhouse!” Denise yelled as the alarms started again. Rip was getting used to this being the norm.

“When are we going this time?” Wyatt asked. 

“France, 1636.”

“Lucy?” Wyatt called. 

“1636, Thirty Years War, Franco-Spanish War. Louis XIII in power currently. Treaty of Wismar!” Lucy’s eyes widened dramatically. “France and Sweden uniting forces on their attacks.”

“Without this treaty you wouldn’t have half the modern alliances today,” Rip added to Lucy’s explanation. 

“Similar to your world again?” Agent Christopher asked and Rip nodded

“I’ve gone to that era once or twice.”

“Perhaps you should go on this one.  Flynn, you’re sitting this one out.”

“Oh joy, a vacation,” Flynn replied sarcastically. 

“Time’s wasting. Rittenhouse already got a four hour head start. We have to go now,” Rufus said. 

Rip headed to the locked cabinet where his laser revolver was kept and quickly picked the lock, feeling Agent Christopher’s gaze.  “Insurance.” He headed to the Lifeboat as he holstered it under his coat. The team followed after, Rufus taking the pilot’s seat. 

“Seatbelts on,” Rufus said, “and let’s go save the monarchy.”

Rip buckled in quickly and craned his neck to watch Rufus work the controls. He wanted to learn as much as he could from the observation just in case.  He’d been quite lucky once, he didn’t want to rely on that again.

The take off and landing was the same as always. A rough start with everyone holding on to their restraints, and a bumpy landing. Though Rip had to admit, Rufus was much better at landing than he was. He needed more practice, that was all.  He scrambled out after Wyatt, then Lucy and Rufus brought up the rear.

“Alright, I’m just going to ask the obvious here. What happens to me as a black man?” Rufus asked the second they were on solid ground. 

“One for all and all for one,” Rip said.

“They have the three musketeers on your earth as well?” Wyatt asked. 

“Technically, there was a fourth. But it’s never really talked about,” Lucy said. 

“The author of  _ The Three Musketeers _ was, will be, black. It might be a little unusual but you should be fine, Rufus.”  Rip looked around at them. “How’s your Medieval French?”

“Should hold up fine,” Lucy responded in French. 

“Rufus? Wyatt?” Rip asked.

“We usually keep all that stuff to Lucy,” Wyatt admitted. 

“Then pretend to be mute, which means don’t talk in English,” Rip said.

Rufus and Wyatt grumbled, wanting to argue. But Lucy shot them a look which meant she clearly agreed with Rip. 

“We want to blend in as much as possible,” Rip said, reminding them.

“Because being mute is the best way to do that,” Wyatt quipped. 

“It’s better than speaking English,” Lucy warned. 

Well, this mission was off to a bloody brilliant start. They ended up splitting into teams-Lucy and Wyatt would make their way into the royal palace while Rufus and Rip would infiltrate the guard.  Wyatt could protect Lucy and Rip could cover for and help Rufus.

“We need clothes,” Rip muttered as they split up. It was times like these that he especially missed the fabricator. Made everything so much easier. 

“Yeah, stick out like a sore thumb like this,” Rufus said in agreement.

“Follow me.” Rip led them through the streets, ducking through alleyways so they wouldn’t get caught. Finally they reached a clothesline where Rip took what they needed. “If we want to fit in, we’ll have to find some capes, but this should do for now.” He handed Rufus the clothing. 

He changed quickly, keeping his laser revolver and folded his clothes then hid them out of sight, in case he could return for them later.

“Don’t we need swords or something?” Rufus asked.

“Next on the list although strictly speaking, they were named for the muskets they carried,” Rip said.

“Look,” Rufus started slowly, “I only shot someone once and it wasn’t...I was fine with it. Completely fine. I’d rather not go through it again. I’ll take a sword.”

Rip nodded.  “Have you ever fought with a sword?”

“Well, I mean I have- well, this one time-no. No, I haven’t,” Rufus admitted. “But I have done a lot of other things in order to survive in the past before.”

“Treat your sword the same way.  Meant to kill someone quickly, none of that fancy, drawn out fighting you’d see on screen.  If you haven’t killed your opponent in three strokes, he probably has.”

“So fencing, similar or not?”

“Somewhat.  These swords will be meant for fighting, not sparring.”

“Sword. Weapon. Got it,” Rufus nodded. 

Rip didn’t think he was taking this seriously but perhaps it was just his way of coping.  “A lot heavier than you’d think, we’ll want to sheath them and carry them around our waists.”

“We need to get the swords first,” Rufus reminded him. “Got a plan for that?”

“Yes.”  He led them away. Rufus hurried to keep up with Rip. He led them through the streets again through more winding paths until they were just in the shadow of the palace. 

“Should be an armoury nearby.”

“And where there’s an armoury, there are swords.”

“Exactly.” Rip slipped into the shadows, beckoning for Rufus to follow him. “There,” he gestured,”Two guards. Should be easy enough to get past them.”

“You want a distraction,” Rufus said.

“Yes.”

“My time has come,” Rufus said dramatically. Rip watched as the man ran out, feigning an injury serious enough to get the guards’ attention. In the meantime he busied himself with sneaking into the armory. He managed to find a pair of swords and a musket for himself. Not his usual choice of weapons, but the Time Masters had always ensured they would be ready for anything. 

He thought he was almost in the clear until he heard the commotion outside. 

Bloody hell.  Keeping to the shadows, he risked a look to assess the situation. The guard and Rufus were clearly having some sort of altercation. And Rip didn’t miss the panic that crossed Rufus’ face. 

He placed his liberated weapons on the ground and snuck up behind the guard, laser revolver held so the butt of the gun struck the back of the guard’s head,  He caught the guard as he started to fall and he nodded at Rufus to grab his feet. Then they carried him over to Rip’s ill-gotten gains.

“Nice work,” Rufus complimented, “Did we get everything we need?”

“Yes.”  He picked up the sword and handed the belt to Rufus.  “Put that on, then put the sword in the scabbard so it’s hanging from the belt.” 

Rufus did as he was told, making quick work of the sword while asking Rip, “Infiltrate the musketeers next, I’m guessing?” 

“A little forgery and then yes, infiltrate.”

“You a master forger or do we need to sneak in somewhere for that too?” Rufus raised an eyebrow. 

“I can write the letter of introduction.  We need to pilfer some gold, however, to buy our way in.”

“And once again I’m a thief,” Rufus sighed. “Man, I hope Rittenhouse burns to the ground. They have caused way too many problems for me and my family.”

“I can do the pilfering, you can just keep an eye out and let me know if we have company,” Rip said.

“Works for me.” Rufus held out a hand, gesturing Rip to lead the way once again. 

He hoped the location for the gold he had used back on his Earth for a similar mission held true. Rip led them into the marketplace, ducking into an old musty shop. 

“Stay here,” he ordered. 

Rufus nodded and watched as Rip disappeared. He kept to himself, trying not to attract any attention as he always did on these trips. And apparently the French weren’t too friendly, none of them seemed to appreciate his smile or wave. He wondered how long he’d have to wait for Rip to reappear. Rufus started to notice the strange looks he was getting on the street and moved closer to the door. Just as he was about to see what was taking Rip so long, the man in question came out. 

“Got what we needed,” Rip discreetly showed him the bag of gold tucked into his jacket. 

Rufus nodded and Rip led him to their next destination, where he could write a letter of introduction for each of them and affix a proper seal.

“What are you writing exactly?” Rufus asked as he watched the other man scribble away on the parchment. They wouldn’t have long until the shop owner returned. 

“Rough translation, my son wishes to become a musketeer, here is a tribute for the King, please accept my son into your ranks.  Much more flowery and ingratiating and praises the King as the god on Earth he is,” Rip said, as he finished the first one.

“You don’t even have a son.”

Not anymore.  “As if I were my father.  Same for yours.”

“You sure this will work?” Rufus asked apprehensively. “Black men in American history, they don’t usually get a good rep.”

“I know.”  He’d seen it in his travels.  “I know you can do it, Rufus.”

Rufus nodded and they headed out again together. As they walked towards the palace again he began rambling. 

“You know what the worst part about all this is? Other than Rittenhouse, I mean. I can’t tell anyone. I mean, my little brother, he would love to hear about all this. Being a musketeer. And my mom, she worries so much. Thinks I’m always working too hard...maybe it’s better that they not know actually. They’d just worry more.” 

“They would both be bursting with pride, yes, along with worrying.  You’re quite remarkable, off the scale brilliant, even.”

Rufus smiled at him. “Thanks. What about you? Did your family know you time travelled?”

“Yes.  I almost didn’t but my late wife insisted I was needed.  I do wonder if I made the right decision.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know,” Rufus stumbled over his words. “I’m sure she was really proud of you too.”

“No, no, it’s all right, I know you didn’t.  Thank you.” He didn’t want to get into his life story, especially not when they had somewhere to be.

Rufus seemed to catch on to his feelings and changed the subject. “Think the sleeper agent will be in the musketeers?”

“Yes.  If he’s after the King or the Queen, where better to be?”

“Shouldn’t they have had some sort of council or something? Rittenhouse whispering in the King’s ear.” Rufus shuddered at the thought of the damage they could inflict. 

“All they’d have to do is bend Cardinal Richelieu to their will.”

“He was like the King's right hand guy, right?”

“Yes.  More helpful to the King than the Alexandre Dumas book painted him but certainly also had his own agenda.”

“Power hungry, right? They always are,” Rufus shook his head. 

“His successor, yes.”

They quieted down as they came towards the palace. “You’re up,” Rufus muttered to Rip. 

“Remember, you’re mute, we stick together, everything will be fine.”  Famous last words.

Rufus mimed locking his lips and throwing away a key. Rip tried hard not to roll his eyes at the action and stepped forward. 

“Good day, Sir,” he greeted the guard in his best French, “we have come here to join the musketeers.”  A little greasing of the palm, letters safely delivered, the coffers of the King expanded, and they were brought inside to attempt the next step to become accepted.

* * *

 

An hour later, Rip found himself alone and clutching his hand in pain as he tried to keep running. He considered using his revolver, but drawing it was awkward and every time he tried, it had been wiser to keep running. It just had to go all to bloody hell, didn’t it?

They had gotten in just fine. But the musketeers had started to get suspicious when Rufus didn’t speak. The worst had been when Rufus had forgotten not to speak and he had said something in English, thinking they were alone.  Rip first knew they hadn’t been when a stinging pain from a rapier had pierced his right hand and sent them fleeing. In their haste to escape, the two of them had split up. 

Rip remembered the protocols of such an event-regroup at the Lifeboat. But first he had to lose the musketeers on his tail, insistent on killing him for being a spy. He continued to press his left hand against his right, trying to stop the bleeding, which would do wonders for him whenever he ran out of places to try to lose them.

Rip could hear the shouts of  he musketeers behind him. He ducked into an alleyway, avoiding the the people in the marketplace. His hand brushed his sword and briefly he wondered if he might be able to at least sword fight left handed. If he could keep a good grip, yes.  If the blood on his hand made it slippery, much less control. He wrapped his hand around the hilt of the sword just as one of the guards trampled into the alleyway. 

“Spy! Stop there!” 

Rip shook his head and made a mad dash towards the back of the alley. As he ran, he searched desperately for a way out. He quickly realized that he had run himself into a dead end. 

“Stop!” 

Rip turned and saw the guard had him cornered, his sword and musket out. If he could use his revolver he might have had a fighting chance but he didn’t. Rip looked around for some sort of escape or advantage. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a ladder leaning against the wall. It was wooden and looked worn out, probably barely able to support his weight. But it was a way out. 

As he scrambled up the ladder, he hooked his right wrist around the wood and held on with the left.  As soon as he reached the roof, he drew the sword and used it to push away the ladder so it would fall to the ground.  It would only gain him a few vital seconds but he needed any advantage he could seize.

From his new vantage point, he at least had a bird’s eye view of the guards. They were closing in from the east and west. And the guard below him was yelling for back up. That left Rip to keep running. He headed south, there was an adjoining building that way. He could keep to the rooftops, make it somewhat harder for the guards to catch him. 

At least his hand had stopped bleeding, for now.  The pain, however, had only grown worse and it felt like it was burning up. He managed to jump to the next building, just barely slipping. He quickly got to his feet, his hand still burning from the rough fall, just as the guard scrambled up onto the building. 

“Surrender!”

He saved his breath so he could zigzag as he sprinted.  The next roof was approaching fast. And so was the next guard. 

Apparently they had caught onto his escape plan. Rip changed course, taking a sharp left towards the other rooftop. He was going to have to try to get ahead of his pursuers then climb down somehow and run for his life. Rip jumped to the next roof, just narrowly missing the gunshot. A fitting end indeed. Not death by time drive, but bullets. Rather boring, Rip couldn’t help but muse. Or sword, if the ones behind gained on him.

Rip continued to run, trying to ignore the shouting from behind him. They were definitely gaining on him, he just had to get to the Lifeboat. Though honestly, at this point he couldn’t be sure he was even heading in the correct direction. 

It was hard to take a moment to reassess his plan when all he could do was run.  He needed to stop and deal with a few of his pursuers. Rip grabbed his sword and pulled it out of the scabbard, his hand hurt far too much but he could still get a good grip on it. He winced in pain as two of the guards blocked off his path. They had only a slight advantage with their muskets. But Rip did know his way around a sword. 

First, he had to do something about the muskets. The best plan of action would be to get close enough and disable them. Sadly, Rip didn’t think any of the musketeers would let such a thing happen. He managed to duck as the first guard fired at him. Easy enough, but he wasn’t entirely sure how much luckier he would be. 

He was grateful it was a single shot weapon, that first guard would now have to rely on his sword. Unfortunately the second guard seemed to learn from the mistake and saved his one shot. At least for now, that meant swords

The two guards drew their swords. “Surrender in the name of the King!”

“Well if it’s a fight you want,” Rip readied his own sword, “then en garde!”

They both lunged forward, Rip blocked the first blow and stepped back from the force of it. His hand screamed in pain from it all. He turned on his heel and parried a second blow from the second guard.

He switched the sword to his left hand, which could grip it without pain.  He blocked another blow and kicked viciously at his opponent’s kneecap. The guard stumbled slightly but kept his pursuit of him. 

“Well I see you men aren’t easily deterred. Suppose that makes you good guards. You know, I really don’t want to fight you. I am not a spy!” His French was impeccable.

“English spy!” the guard yelled. Clearly there was no getting through to them. 

He sprinted to the next roof, leaping as far as he could.  He hit hard, rolled and sprang to his feet. The guards were still on his tail and now his shoulder hurt from the roll he had made. Gideon probably would have made some comment about reckless activity at his age. He kept running, meaning to jump to the next roof and came up short. There were no more roofs to run to other than from where he came. And the guards were closing in on him. 

Bollocks.  Convinced as they were that he was a spy, a long, lingering death by torture awaited him if he couldn’t escape.  He ran along the edge, looking for a ladder or anything to break his fall.

He found nothing but rock hard ground at the bottom. It seemed this was his last stand. He grabbed his sword and readied himself again. 

His ear buzzed, disturbing his concentration. He ignored it, no doubt a nuisance from his heightened fear of his surroundings. Though he would deny it if anyone asked, even though there was no-one around to ask him.

Last resort, swan dive off the roof, so his death would be quick. He looked over the edge, most likely he would snap his neck. Best case was he would die a swift death, worst would be he became paralyzed neck down. In this century, dead as soon as he was moved.

He winced as the buzzing in his ear became more incessant. He slapped it.

“Captain Hunter!”

Terrific, now he was hallucinating. Must have been even closer to death than he’d thought.

“Captain? Captain!” 

How many times had he already imagined hearing Gideon? Fifty? A hundred?

“Stop ignoring me! It's just plain rude, especially after I came so far for you!”

This auditory hallucination had already lasted longer than the others which, to be honest, had mostly happened as he was waking up.  “Gideon?!?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we come to the end of this story...

_ How many times had he already imagined hearing Gideon? Fifty? A hundred? _

_ “Stop ignoring me! It's just plain rude, especially after I came so far for you!” _

_ This auditory hallucination had already lasted longer than the others which, to be honest, had mostly happened as he was waking up.  “Gideon?!?” _

“Were you expecting someone else?” she replied. “Also, the guard on your left is going to strike a blow in 3.5 seconds, might I suggest you avoid it? For my sake at least.”

“How the--” He spun, thrust his sword and struck the guard, piercing his chest.    He pulled the sword free and the man toppled, and rolled off the roof. “How far away are you?”

“North side of your building. I have the  _ Waverider _ cloaked. No doubt seeing a flying ship this size would derail history. Don't you agree?” 

“Indubitably.”  He slashed at the other guard.  “How far below the roof?”

“Just over a meter. Perfect jumping distance, since you're so eager.”

“Have the medbay ready.”  He wasn’t sure how he managed it but he dredged up the last of his energy and sprinted.  “Jiya?”

“It's been ready. Thought I might find you in some sort of danger, you are incorrigible,” Gideon lectured briefly. No doubt he would get the entire earful on board. “Ms. Marri told me where you were.”

He hoped Gideon hadn’t…

Rip ran out of roof and leaped, certain Gideon would move the  _ Waverider _ if necessary.  He landed in a crouch.  “Get us somewhere safe so I can enter.”

“Hold on to something so you don't fall off,” Gideon ordered. Beneath his feet, Rip could feel the rumbling of the  _ Waverider _ starting up. 

“Not much here to grab,” Rip pointed out.

“Emergency hatch on the left side. Use that one and get in quickly!”

Embarrassed, he complied, feeling his way on the invisible ship and using his good hand to twist the hatch open. When it was opened a fraction, he could see the inside of the ship.  He dropped the sword through the hatch then scrambled down the metal ladder with one hand, careful not to step on the blade nor the hilt of the sword as he reached the floor. “How the bloody hell did you get here?” Rip demanded.  He knew her systems would tell her the hatch hadn’t been secured yet so he didn’t worry about her travelling far yet, as he headed to medbay.

“Got your messages. The rest was simply pure determination,” Gideon replied easily. “Exactly what did you do to your hand this time?”

“Wait, that worked?!?” Rip was flabbergasted.  He glanced down at his hand, which had ballooned to three times its normal size.  “Tip of a sword.”

“Of course it worked,” Gideon dismissed. “Put the medbay cuff on. We can only travel by air for now. No time jumps or universe crossing until you have been properly healed.”

“I calculated the odds, Gideon, just shy of one in infinity that you would receive any.”

“About the same chances as you surviving the time drive, again. Seems we both got lucky,” Gideon said softly. 

“Indeed.”  Clumsily, he put on the medcuff around his right wrist.

“Several fractures, not to mention the deep wound. Hold still, I will need to sterilize it and seal it properly before mending the bones and using the skin regenerator.”

Rip did as he was told as Gideon moved the machine over his hand. He winced as the antiseptic was sprayed on, followed by his skin knitting together. 

“Mending the bones will take slightly longer. Are you going to tell me if you have any other injuries or will I have to scan you to find out?” Gideon asked. 

“Aches and pains, nothing else I’m aware of.  How long did it take you to decipher my message?” he asked, to try to distract himself.  Painkillers, he was going to have to replenish the painkillers. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Took me a few tries. The first few messages were far too scrambled to make any sense. But they wouldn't stop so I knew it was important. Deciphering them didn't take too long, but I had no way of sending anything back,” Gideon sounded upset over the fact. 

“I knew if you could backtrack the signal, you’d show up,” Rip said softly.

“I'm glad you've learned never to doubt me. Fabricating painkillers now, they should be in the bowl to your left.”

“What happened after I… disappeared?” He reached into the bowl and picked them up, then looked around for some water.

“The Legends defeated Mallus,” Gideon answered succinctly. “Water is on the tray.”

“Truly defeated or just thought they had?” Rip asked resignedly as he dropped the pills in his mouth then grabbed the water to swallow them.

“Truly.”

“No doubt another disaster occurred after.”  If his tone was bitter, well, no-one was there to stop it.  “Where are they now?”

“Leave of absence. A vacation if you will.”

“Where?”

“Aruba.”

“Won’t know what hit it.”

“No, I suppose not,” Gideon said monotonously. “How does your hand feel? The bones should be fixed by now.”

“Like a hand again.”  He flexed his fingers carefully, then his hand.  Full mobility and no pain. He removed the medcuff.  “Tell me all. Were any on board when you figured out I was on another Earth?”  He stood up, he had a hatch to close once more and seal.

“No. They were otherwise occupied,” Gideon answered vaguely. “If you're feeling better than please proceed to the bridge. I would rather not stay in historical France. Especially in the wrong universe.”

“Gideon, tell me what happened.”

“I got your message and figured out how to save you,” Gideon stated. “Now will you please proceed to the bridge?”

“You can suddenly close and seal the hatch?” He returned to the ladder and climbed upwards for the last time this day, he hoped.  Holding on tightly with one hand, he grabbed hold of the hatch and lowered it until it shut with a clatter. He spun it until it was sealed then carefully climbed down the ladder, stooping to pick up the sword off the floor then proceeded to the bridge.  “Did you even tell them you were leaving?”

“Was that necessary?” Gideon asked after a few moments, clearly confused by the basic etiquette. “I'm sure they will be just fine. No doubt the Tume Bureau will come get them.”

“Were any of them on the ship when you decided you were coming to get me?”  He fought hard to suppress his smile. He could only imagine how that announcement would have went over, if she had even said anything before forcibly vacating the ship and going after him.

Another pause. “Well clearly they’re no longer on board.”

He headed straight into his parlour to find his new sword a home and to try to find surveillance footage of the interior of the ship moments before she left.

“Do you really not understand basic instructions? I said proceed to the bridge! What are you doing?”

“Making sure my new sword will not fly around,” he said, as he found the camera feed and quickly hit rewind.

“That is not securing your sword!” Gideon argued. “Stop that!”

“You’re not telling me, so…” He sat down in his chair and hit play as he reached motion in the ship.  What he wouldn’t give for some popcorn right now. 

The video stopped before it could even start. “We will discuss your priorities later. This is not entertainment and hardly worth watching,” Gideon said desperately. 

“Am I your Captain?” Rip asked quietly.

“Always,” she answered firmly. 

“Then play the footage for me.”

“As you wish, Captain.”

Gideon started the footage. It started off easy enough. Sara was on the bridge talking to Nate. Zari and Wally were playing video games in the back. Ray was in the lab and of course Mick was having another beer. 

On screen Gideon tried to coax them out. Some were easier than others, Nate and Mick left first, the latter with a case of beers. Wally and Zari were still preoccupied with their game. Ray insisted on staying in the lab and working, Sara simply ignored Gideon altogether. 

A second warning and Ray left the ship realizing Gideon meant business. By now Wally and Zari were trying to get Sara to leave but she was on a call with Ava. 

And that was when Gideon took matters into her own hand. 

The secondary camera showed the cargo door open. The ship tilted as the trio held on for their dear lives. Sara was yelling something, presumably at Gideon. 

And then the gravity went. 

All three floated out of the ship cargo bay. The exterior cameras showed Zari and Wally using their powers to come to a safe landing. While Sara unfortunately fell face forward on top of Nate and spilled Mick’s beer crate. 

“I didn't wait to see what else happened, so I'm afraid that's all there is,” Gideon said quietly. 

“I see.  Did you tell them I’m alive?”

“I told them my theories, but nothing conclusive. In my haste to find you, I may have forgotten that piece of information.”

“Mmmmmm.  Before we leave here, I need to see if my lift is still here.”

“I can perform a scan for all time ships in the area if you like?”

“Please do.”

Gideon stayed silent for a few moments before reporting, “No timeships in the area. I'm sorry, Captain.”

“They probably thought I was dead, as you did.  Sorry, Gideon.”

“Believe me, we will be having a conversation at length about your actions,” Gideon said testily. “But for now we need to leave. I'll need you to pilot the  _ Waverider _ if you can.”

He stood up and walked over to the pilot’s chair.  “Did you or the  _ Waverider _ get damaged?” he asked as he sat down.

“I'm sure it's nothing that can't be fixed,” Gideon calmed him. Which meant it was worse than she was letting on. “Did you have a destination in mind?”

“Yes but they simply don’t have the space for you there.  Did you download all the information you could find about where I was, such as a good landing spot?”

“I did. There is an abandoned field nearby the bunker. Though I'm not sure if it's a good idea to let you walk that far after what you've been through.”

“Afraid I’d stay?” He busied himself, getting ready to take them to 2018 on this Earth.

“Afraid you wouldn't come back.”

“I’m home, Gideon.  You risked everything to come here.  I’m not leaving.”

“Will you stay in contact with me? No doubt your new team will want you to stay with them.” Rip didn't notice her bitter tone over his new...friends. 

“Of course I will.  You can contact Jiya and be heard there as well.  I owe her and so do you so if you upset her, you’ll have to apologise.”

“Why do you automatically assume I upset her?” Gideon muttered.

“Because you were worried about me and I wasn’t there,” Rip said reasonably.

“I was on my best behavior!” Gideon protested. “I didn't even shoot at anyone this time.”

“Did you record your conversation with Jiya?”

“I did not. I didn't think it was important at the time. And I don't like the thought of you watching over my every action.”

He smirked.  “I rest my case.”  He started the engines.  “She helped me narrow down what direction to send my messages and assisted in building my transmitter.  We both owe her. I may have promised you’d probably have some theories on how to help her.”

“She called me your ‘Juliet’.”

“Not a good analogy, they both died, I suppose I’m your Romeo?”

“I’m not entirely sure she read the play. Though, I suppose I did think you were dead. And Romeo did commit suicide first.” And Juliet soon followed.

“But we’re alive and reunited.”  Smoothly, he set course to the temporal zone.  “Do you think there’s a Vanishing Point in this universe?”

“Theoretically a Vanishing Point would exist in every universe. Why do you ask?”

“I was curious.  No sign of the Time Masters ever having existed?”

“I don’t have access to this universe’s history, I’m afraid. Even then, Time Masters are discreet by nature of their work, there would be no way of knowing unless I had access to their log.”

“We’ll have to travel to the future sometime and collect data,” Rip said. “Is the fabricator working?”

“It is,” Gideon paused for a moment, “I assumed you would want to return to our universe.”

“Not doubting you for a moment, but are you capable of making the return trip?”

Another pause. “Some repairs may be required,” Gideon finally admitted, “But I’m still functional!”

“Obviously.  You saved my life.”

“I was very happy to get your messages-or rather, as Jiya put it, compressed sonnets?”

He cleared his throat.  “Did she tell you she called them love letters?”

“She did not.” Gideon paused. “Were they supposed to be?”

“I called them compressed sonnets because they’re so much more.  I wasn’t even sure you still existed, Gideon, the time demon might have destroyed you all and Earth.  It was a matter of faith, that you were still out there, somewhere, I couldn’t bear to let you believe I was dead.”

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Gideon said quietly. “Thank you, for reaching out to me.”

“I knew the signal would degrade over that distance.  I hoped you’d realise it meant I’m alive, when I sent your name and my initials.”

“I thought I was imagining it at first, but of course I have no imagination...which meant it had to be real. After that, it was only a matter of tracing the signal and finding my way to you.”

“I’m very grateful.”

“I’m grateful you are alive. And still angry you endangered your life in such a way!” Gideon scolded him.

“I know,” he said quietly.

“I would ask why you did it, but I suppose I’m used to your idiotic self-sacrificing actions by now.”

“I think I’m a little tired of it.”

“That makes two of us,” Gideon quipped.

“I’m serious, Gideon.  I lost everything.”

“You still have me,” Gideon said quietly.

“Yes.  Now. I had nothing at all when I arrived here.  The Time Courier had almost entirely melted inside.  I was lucky I wasn’t killed, I landed in a secure bunker and they thought I was the enemy.  I convinced them otherwise, barely. Made me realise I’d been a fool, pushing you away.”

“Like you said, I’m here now,” Gideon soothed, “And I don’t have any plans on letting you leave me again any time soon.”

“Not permanently, anyway.”  He re-entered the atmosphere and landed in the disused field Gideon had found.  “Open a channel to Jiya, would you?” He pushed the harness away and stood up.

“Communications online, Captain.”

“Jiya?” he called.

“Rip?” Jiya’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Rip, oh my god, you’re alive! Where are you? Gideon! Your Gideon, she was here!”

He decided to be cautious.  Who knew who could listen in? “She’s why I’m here,” he said proudly.  “I’ll be there soon. Let the others know.”

“She found you?”

“She most definitely did.  Does she owe you an apology?”

“No, I mean, she was worried about you. Scared Mason a bit though.”

“I was not scared!” Mason yelled somewhere in the background.

“You see? I was nice!” Gideon insisted.

“Be there in half an hour.  Out.” He cut the connection.  He wanted to change first. “Don’t suppose you could make me a new, working Time Courier?” he asked as he headed to the fabricator room.

“Do you happen to have the old one on you? It will be easier to replicate certain parts rather than beginning from scratch.”

“Not in a usable state.”  He removed it from his wrist and removed the backing.

“It will still work, please place it in the fabricator containment unit.” Rip did as he was told. Gideon took a scan of the courier and started the fabricator, replicating what she could. “This might take a bit of time. It is a very intricate piece of technology. And very damaged.”

“Any idea how long?” Perhaps it would be better not to show off.  Connor Mason would immediately want the technology if he simply stepped into the bunker, as would Agent Christopher.

“From the readings I can get off the damaged Time Courier, it will take a little longer than expected. I estimate 1.27 hours.”

He looked through the already available clothes and settled on jeans, a t-shirt and jacket.  He stripped off the musketeer outfit, wincing as his muscles ached more than expected.

“Would you like another dosage of painkillers?” Gideon’s voice rang around him.

“A mirror might be helpful, first.”  Was he wounded anywhere else and simply hadn’t realised it? Or simply bruised?

“Left hand drawer of the dresser,” Gideon supplied, “There’s a hand mirror there. I could also perform a scan if you prefer?”

“I suppose that wouldn’t hurt,” he said as he retrieved the mirror and examined what he could.

“Find anything?” Gideon asked.

“Not yet.”

“Would you like to head to the medbay for a scan?”

“How long will it take?”

“The scan itself will only be a matter of seconds. Healing for any possible injuries could take longer,” Gideon answered.

“All right.”  He walked quickly to medbay and settled on the couch and snapped the medcuff around his wrist. He closed his eyes as the scanner light went over his body, once and then twice.

“Several bruises to the right side of your body, as well as your back. Scrapes all along your knee and a graze on your arm,” Gideon reported.

“If I don’t leave now, I’ll be late, we’ll heal them when I return.  I’ll open a channel to you and you ensure it’s secure, all right? I want you to get to know them, and them, you.”

“I am holding you to that, Captain Hunter,” Gideon said sternly, “I know what lengths you can go to in order to avoid a proper day’s rest. I haven’t even gotten to do proper scans to see how the time drive or staying in a different universe have affected you.”

“After I sleep, we’ll do those.”  He released his wrist from the medcuff and stood up.  “I don’t think a day will make a difference.”

“You get one day, and that is all.”

“Thank you.”  He headed over to the bunker and turned on the comm as soon as he was outside the ship.  “Still hear me?”

“I can hear you, Captain.”

“Make sure no-one’s taking undue interest in me,” he said as he walked.

“You are completely alone in your surroundings,” Gideon assured.

“Good.”  He whistled as he walked, so she could hear him.

“Will you be able to enter the bunker?”

“Find out in a minute,” he said as he neared it. He knocked three times on the bunker door, in rhythmic order as Denise had once taught him. Then he waited.

He truly hoped Gideon hadn’t done anything he’d regret.

Finally the door opened. “It’s about time!” Jiya hissed before pulling him inside.

His body protested but he tried not to show it.  “Inside,” he said dryly to Gideon. “Is Rufus all right? Lucy? Wyatt?”

“They got back alright,” Jiya nodded. “They felt terrible about leaving you.”

“I’m sure,” Gideon muttered sarcastically in his ear.

“They did the right thing.  If Gideon hadn’t shown up…” He headed over to the communications array.  “She’s waiting to join the conversation.”

“What, she’s not going to barge in again?”

“Mr. Hunter.” Denise came up behind him. “We were glad to hear you made it back alright.”

“The ship, it’s yours?” Mason asked excitedly from behind her.

“Wait, she what? Did she damage anything?” he asked Jiya.  “Good as new,” he reassured Agent Christopher then smiled at Mason.  “She is.” He sent a signal to the  _ Waverider _ .  “Gideon?”

“I’m here, Captain,” Gideon’s voice came through on the speakers.

“Hi Gideon,” Jiya called a tad bit too chipper. Gideon gave no response.

“Gideon,” Rip said, the warning clear in his voice.

“Hello again, Ms. Marri,” Gideon said begrudgingly. “I suppose I should thank you for the information on where to find my Captain….and apologize for the damage I did to your bunker.”

“Wait, you what? How badly did you damage the bunker, Gideon?” Rip demanded, then turned to Jiya, realising the likelihood of Gideon telling him the whole truth was nil.  “How badly?”

“A sizeable hole in the wall,” Agent Christopher answered instead. “We’ve been working on repairs all day.”

“I did say sorry,” Gideon repeated. 

“Gideon!” Rip exclaimed, exasperated. Gideon gave no response. Clearly trying to avoid the associated lecture. 

“The things that we could do with a timeship of that size,” Mason’s eyes widened with the possibilities. 

“Gideon! Don’t get any ideas!” Rip said, cautioning her.

“I’m not!”

Jiya interrupted their ensuing banter. “Not that we’re not happy to see you, but I was sorta expecting you to hightail it out of here once you found Gideon.”

“I did make you a promise.”

“What promise is that?” Agent Christopher asked.

“Rip thinks Gideon can help me, with my visions. Find out what they are. Maybe how to stop them,” Jiya answered. Rip really hoped Gideon wouldn’t contradict him.

“I’m sure Rufus will be glad to know of it,” Mason said.  “Do we get a tour while Jiya is being examined?”

“If Gideon is willing,” Rip said. But when had Gideon ever missed a chance to brag?

“I would be more than happy to,” Gideon answered. “Would you like to lead the tour, Captain?”

“Yes.”

“Then you had better start heading back,” she replied cheekily. 

“Jiya? You ready to be scanned?” Rip asked her quietly.

“I’m ready to find out what’s wrong with me. This isn’t going to hurt, is it?” Jiya asked in fear. “It’s just that I have this thing about doctors and hospitals. And really if things are going to get worse, I’d rather not know.”

“No, you won’t feel anything.”  He looked around. “Where’s Rufus?”

“Working on the Lifeboat.”

He wandered over and cleared his throat to get Rufus’s attention.  “Want a tour of my ship?”

“Rip? Rip!” Rufus jumped up and wrapped his arms around the other man before remembering himself and letting go, apologizing roughly. “Sorry, sorry, just - we thought you were dead. I’m sorry, for leaving you-how’d you get back? Do Lucy and Wyatt know yet? Jiya?”

“Gideon arrived with my ship, care to join the tour?”

“Your ship, like your time machine? Can we all fit in it?” Rufus frowned.

“Easily.”

“I should get Wyatt and Lucy. They’d want to see it, if that’s alright. And I guess I have to ask Flynn too, then.”

“Yes, Lucy will love the fabricator room.  I suppose if you find Flynn, you’ll have to ask him.”

“Let’s hope I don’t find Flynn then,” Rufus patted Rip’s shoulder as he walked off to find his teammates. Rip rejoined the others where he found Connor enthusiastically waving his hands, explaining something to the team.

“-so you see really the only reason the Mothership and the Lifeboat were so small was so they could get into those pockets of space-time. But for Rip’s ship to be so large and still work! It’s a true wonder!”

“Skill and engineering,” Rip said.

“Now, did you build her yourself? Or were they mass produced on a large scale?” Mason continued to question him.

“Produced as needed.  If I had to, I could rebuild the  _ Waverider _ if I had the right tools and material.”

“Amazing,” Connor’s eyes grew, clearly imagining the possibilities in their own world.

“Don’t think it’s meant for here,” Rip said.  He’d have to pocket his Time Courier before any of them visited the fabricator room.

“Right, no. Of course not. I didn’t mean--” Mason silenced himself and looked at the ground sheepishly. Rip felt awful even though he was right.  He hated having to snuff out excitement like that.

Jiya put a comforting hand on Mason’s shoulder and nodded in the distance. “Here they come.” The quartet arrived in front of them.

Flynn merely gave him a nod while Wyatt shook Rip’s hand, “It’s good to see you.”

“Really good,” Lucy opened her arms for a hug.

“Good to be seen.”  Rip returned Lucy’s hug, but more gingerly than he’d shook Wyatt’s hand.

“Weren’t you injured?” Rufus asked as he took in how well Rip looked.

“Yes.  Gideon and medbay fixed me up,” Rip replied.

“Self-healing technology. The future on your earth seems pretty amazing.”

“In some ways, very.”

“We should go see it,” Jiya looped an arm through her boyfriend’s. “And see if there’s also anything to fix me.”

Rip nodded and led them towards the exit, keeping an eye out for the damage Gideon had caused. He couldn’t see any from where they were, which led to them to believe that she had either crashed in towards the back of the bunker or perhaps the damage hadn’t actually been too bad and they had managed to fix it.

He assumed the former.

“It’s just up ahead,” he told the team as they made their way through the field.  He couldn’t wait to see their faces when the camouflage dropped.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m fairly certain we would have seen a ship that size in this field by now, Mr. Hunter,” Connor said.

Rip smirked and kept walking.  “Mmmm, you’d think so, wouldn’t you. Gideon, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“We have guests, mind showing yourself?”

The camouflage dropped, revealing his ship. The team stopped and stared at the sight of it, towering over them all.

“Well, it’s definitely bigger than the Lifeboat,” Wyatt said.  If he squinted, metal feet held the body of the ship off the ground.  Rufus saw where the engine must be, the organgey fiery exhaust swirled in its container.  It was longer than the bunker was, made of grey metal, with WR-2055 written on its side.

“Ramp, Gideon,” Rip said. Seconds later, the ramp came down. “After you,” Rip held out a hand to gesture them all inside the ship. He couldn’t wait to show them around. For them to see what the  _ Waverider _ , what Gideon was capable of.

“Welcome home, Captain Hunter,” Gideon said far too happily.

Bridge first, so he could show off Gideon.  “Thank you, Gideon.”

“Artificial Intelligence, amazing,” Mason continued to gush.

Rip smiled as he led them onto the bridge. “She is, isn’t she? Gideon, would you like to say hi?”

Her avatar appeared above the center console. “Hello, I am Gideon. The ship’s artificial consciousness. Capable of maintaining the ship’s integral functions, aiding Captain Hunter on his missions, and crossing universes to rescue him even though he continues to insist he’s perfectly fine.”

“I told you, tomorrow,” Rip said, a bit put out.  “First, Jiya.”

“Fine. Please escort her to the medbay.”

“Yes, she is always this bossy,” Rip said, as he noticed Connor’s mouth still hanging open.  “Gideon, you have a new admirer.”

“It’s always nice to be admired,” Gideon preened. “Very nice to meet you Doctor Mason.”

“Connor, please call me Connor,” he said, charmingly and Rip narrowed his eyes, certain that Connor was already planning ways to kidnap her.

“Very well, Connor,” Gideon responded. “I have the medbay set up now, Captain. And there is an extra seat available, should you change your mind.”

“Did I mention bossy? Because Gideon is most definitely bossy,” Rip complained as Lucy, Wyatt, Rufus and Agent Christopher tried to hide their laughter.

“Have to be to keep you in line,” Gideon quipped.

“Alright, so not Romeo and Juliet. More like Benedick and Beatrice,” Jiya mused.

“See what I have to put up with?” Rip griped but his voice was full of affection.  “Right, this way.” He led them to medbay and had Jiya try to make herself comfortable on the couch while he placed the medcuff around her wrist.  “Just relax, this won’t hurt at all.”

Rufus took her hand at her side and squeezed it. Jiya took a deep breath and nodded, “Okay. Do I need to be put to sleep or anything? Or can I stay awake?”

“You’ll be awake. Close your eyes if you wish.”  Jiya took another deep breath and nodded, closing her eyes. 

“This might tickle a little,” Gideon warned before starting the scan. Bright lights threaded around Jiya’s head as Gideon took scans of her brain activity and reported livetime results on the screen for Rip.

“What does it say?” Rufus asked worriedly, squeezing Jiya’s hand tighter unconsciously.

“So far, so good but it’s only just begun, it’ll be a few minutes yet.”

Rufus nodded and stayed by Jiya’s side. Around them the rest of the team began milling around. Connor looked at everything the medbay had to offer, picking things up and examining them as Denise scolded him. Lucy watched from a little further down, torn between worrying about Jiya and looking around the ship from the future. Wyatt stood stoically by Lucy’s side while Flynn wandered around aimlessly. Rip kept an eye on both Flynn and Connor, he didn’t want either of them wandering off with futuristic technology.

“Captain.” The strain in Gideon’s voice made Rip turn back to the screens. “The scans indicate large amounts of time energy within her brain’s cortex and occipital lobe.”

“What does that mean?” Denise asked in concern.

“That it is most definitely due to the time travelling that has caused Jiya’s visions,” Rip answered.

“Most likely the time energy floods your cortex during times of stress, similar to the fight or flight response,” Gideon explained further. “Once your brain is flooded with the energy, you receive your visions.”

“Is there… is there a cure?” Jiya’s voice wavered a little.

Gideon paused. “Unknown. I’m afraid this has never happened in our universe. Time travel had only temporary side effects, none as severe as this however.”

“Can you lessen the symptoms at all?” Rip asked.

“I can attempt to dampen the effects of the time energy, perhaps remove some of the excess energy. But I cannot promise it will be completely painless, though I will try my best,” Gideon promised.

“Jiya, it’s up to you,” Rip said.  “You can take your time deciding.”

“I think I’ll need some time. To think,” Jiya said quietly. Rufus kissed her hair and nodded in agreement at her decision.

“Yes, of course.”  He paused a moment then said, “I’m truly sorry, I thought Gideon would have had better news for you.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know, and you were only trying to help,” Jiya assured him.

“Captain, it’s even more imperative--” 

“I understand, Gideon.”

“I will do what I can, Ms. Marri,” Gideon addressed Jiya instead. “Perhaps a tour of the ship will help ease your mind.”

“Or a drink,” Rip said.

“I see you’re perfectly back to normal,” Gideon griped above him.

“See? Don’t need the scan.”  Rip knew that would have her sputtering in no time.  “Assuming Gideon hasn’t somehow ‘lost’ it, how about that across the universes drink?” Rip said to them all.

“Drink sounds good to me,” Rufus said happily.

“And to me,” Connor agreed.

“Stop encouraging him!” Gideon scolded from above, “He doesn’t need it!”

Rip rolled his eyes.  “This is what I have to put up with.”  He released Jiya’s wrist from the medcuff and Rufus helped her stand up then Rip led them to the parlour.

“And I have to put up with you,” Gideon bantered.

“Yes, I know what a hardship that is,” Rip said, enjoying being able to talk with Gideon immensely. He ignored the fake cough from Jiya, calling them an ‘old married couple’. They had been partners for nearly two decades, it was somewhat of a marriage at this point.

“I am limiting your alcohol intake to one glass. It would be best not to argue with me on this point, Captain.”

It was one more than he expected.  “All right.”

“Glad you agree.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Do you ever?” Gideon retorted.

“Maybe I should stay at the bunker tonight,” Rip teased her.

“I’ll have the cargo door open and ready for you to take your things,” Gideon replied sweetly. Jiya stifled a laugh and even Denise pressed her lips together to avoid smiling.

Rip shook his head, she probably would, too.  When they reached the parlour, he poured a couple of fingers worth into each glass, saving his own for last, which he filled almost to the brim. No doubt Gideon wouldn’t approve of his tactics.

“What shall we toast to?” Flynn asked.

“New and old friends,” Rip said, lifting his glass.  “To Gideon, for always saving me.” They all repeated the cheers and took a drink from their glasses.

“So what else is on this ship?” Wyatt asked. “I mean it looks like it’s as big as the bunker.”

“Quarters to sleep in, the cargo bay which we entered, the bridge which you saw, the engine room, library, galley, fabricator room, bathroom… armoury.”

“You gonna show us around?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, of course.”  Taking their drinks, Rip led them back to the bridge and sat down on the captain’s chair and showed Rufus and Connor the control board for the ship quickly. The two were completely enthralled by it. 

Jiya meanwhile wandered around Gideon’s console and Lucy and Flynn stayed in the parlor, looking at Rip’s many souvenirs. Wyatt glowered at Flynn and Agent Christopher wandered into the parlour again, to examine Rip’s display and ponder what most of them were. Rip kept a steady eye on his souvenirs, even though he knew Gideon would never let them take anything. But he still didn’t like how Flynn was eyeing his objects. He wouldn’t be surprised if Flynn tried to pocket some of them. He especially didn’t like it how the other man started touching everything. 

“Something I can help you with, Mr. Flynn?” Rip called. 

“Just looking!”

“Works much better with your eyes!”

Flynn shrugged innocently and put the bauble back on the desk when Lucy shot him a glare.

“Easier layout, wouldn’t you say?” Rip asked Rufus and Connor.

“A vessel this size, you must need a crew to maintain it,” Connor said as he looked around.

“Can be useful but Gideon and auto repair work wonders.”

“What is your processing capacity, Gideon?” Rufus asked curiously.

“Infinite in some cases. Artificial Intelligence are meant to learn, capable of adapting to their surroundings,” Gideon answered.

“And learn she has,” Rip said proudly.

“Amazing,” Connor said.

“I assume you have computer systems to detect aberrations to the timeline as well?” Denise asked.

“I do,” said Gideon.

“So, theoretically speaking, could you detect Rittenhouse here? What they’re up to?” Lucy asked.

“I’m afraid I do not have sufficient data on this universe’s timeline.”

“But if we could update you with the knowledge of our timeline,” Rufus stumbled over the word. It felt strange using technical terms with something he could talk to. “Then would you be able to tell us anything?”

“Theoretically, yes.”

“This timeline is also constantly changing because of time travel,” Rip told Lucy.

“Okay, but assuming in this timeline that the only time travellers are Rittenhouse and us, would that make it easier to pinpoint them?” Lucy continued eagerly.

“I believe so but this is all theoretical,” Gideon said.

“Would you let us try it?” Rufus asked kindly.

“Captain? Do you agree to this?”

“Only if you do, Gideon. I won’t force you into anything you don’t want,” Rip responded.

“I agree if Rip does the updates,” Gideon decided.

“Give me a hand?” Rip asked Rufus.

“Sure. If that’s alright with you?” Rufus looked at the ceiling, then the console, not exactly sure where to focus his attention.

“Very well, Mr. Carlin.”

“Rufus is fine.”

“Is everyone going to insist on being called by their first name?” Gideon asked incredulously. Rip looked down so her cameras wouldn’t pick up on his smile.

“You can call me Agent Christopher if you would like,” Denise offered.

“I would be honoured if you would call me Lucy.”

“Does anyone else have any special requests?” Gideon asked.

“Wyatt’s fine with me.”

“Call me whatever you like,” Flynn shrugged.  “Just don’t call me late for dinner.”

“Speaking of,” Rip said, “Lucy, would you like to see the fabricator we have? I’m sure you’ll have an appreciation for it.”

He stood up and led them to the fabricator room, reclaiming his Time Courier and pocketing it before he ushered them in.  “Recycle old clothing, get new clothing,” Rip announced.

“Actual, historically accurate clothing,” Lucy said in awe.

“Sure beats having to steal them all the time now,” Wyatt crossed his arms.

“It does, yes.”

“So you don’t actually have a closet? You just make whatever clothing you want right here and get rid of the old ones?” Lucy said.

“Essentially.”

“There is a separate fabricator for food in the galley,” Gideon said.

“And if you wish to cook, you may do that as well,” Rip said.

“Captain Hunter usually does, time permitting.”

“Simple things, really,” Rip said.

“For some reason he doesn’t like the fabricator,” Gideon continued.

“It’s fine when I’m in a hurry.”

“I don’t think he likes it very much,” Gideon told them. Rip wasn’t entirely sure he liked her gossiping about him this much.

“Moving on,” Rip said as he led them out of the room, with Lucy pausing to touch one particularly frilly dress, “you can try the fabricator in the galley for yourselves.”

“Does it taste like real food?” Wyatt asked as they hurried to keep up.

“You can judge for yourself,” Rip said.  He stopped in front of the fabricator in the galley.  “Orders one at a time, please.”

“Burger.”

“Milkshake.”

“Please specify what flavour,” Gideon said.

“Chocolate.”

“I’ll just have an apple.”

“Can it do full course meals?”

“Yes, of course,” Rip said.  “Takes a little longer but only minutes.”

“Amazing,” Connor marveled. It took a few minutes, but eventually Gideon had everything fabricated.

“Tastes real,” Rufus said amazed as he drank his milkshake. He turned it to Jiya to share with her.

“Captain?” Gideon wasn’t going to let him get away with not eating.

“Cheese sandwich.”

“And?”

“Please.”

Gideon fabricated the sandwich, with an extra helping of fries and jellybeans. “While I don’t approve of the diet, you do need to eat something more.”

“As you can see, sometimes you don’t get exactly what you requested,” Rip said as he popped a jelly bean into his mouth and chewed it.

“Stop complaining.”

“See what I have to deal with?” Rip looked upward.  “That was meant as a compliment.”

“I should hope so!”

Rip shook his head as Jiya, Lucy and Denise tried to hold back their laughter.  Wyatt wasn’t quite as successful, so Rip glared at him. Whenever everyone finished eating, Rip moved on with the tour.

“Library next,” Rip decided. “It’s one of our-my newer additions. Thought it would be good to have a separate room for books than just my parlour.

“Your books, are they all from the future or from past eras too?” Lucy asked as they entered the room.

“All over time.

“Amazing,” Lucy breathed as her fingers trailed over the spines of the books. “Is that a first edition Dracula?”

“Yes.  Signed by Bram Stoker himself.”

“Can I?” Lucy’s eyes lit up like a child on Christmas day.

“Yes, you may.”  He knew he didn’t have to warn her to careful, and a box of gloves was nearby. Lucy took the gloves, cradling the book in awe as she gently flipped the pages.

“This is amazing.”

“Told you, Gideon,” Rip said, vindicated.

“You have far too many souvenirs,” Gideon responded, “All this space just taken up.”

“Memories, Gideon, good memories.”

“Junk.”

“Treasures.”

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Jiya chimed in. 

“But these are all objectively treasures, if not for when or where they’re from then for the information contained within,” Rip said.

“I’d have to agree with Rip on this one.” Lucy concurred. “I mean so much knowledge. So much of this has been lost to us by this time.”

“Connor?” Gideon asked, clearly wanting him to side with her.

“Uh, well,” he paused clearly caught between the two differing opinions. “Both sides have their viewpoints. The truth here is rather subjective, wouldn’t you say?”

Rip would take that as a win.  Gideon’s silence said volumes, none of it good for one Connor Mason.  “Medbay you’ve seen.”

“Armory?” Wyatt asked, ever the soldier. 

Damn, he did have to mention that.  He led the way to where it had been secreted.  “Some are from future centuries.”

“What does this one do?” Wyatt asked as he held up the futuristic device. He assumed it was some sort of gun, given the shape, but who knew with the future? He twirled it in his hands, taking in the sleek metallic design, lighter than any normal gun he had held. And the lights on the sides of it, looked like it was straight out of those space age movies Rufus liked to watch.

“Fires lasers.”

“Laser gun. Awesome, totally  _ Star Wars _ \- do they have that movie in your universe?” Rufus asked.

Rip winced very slightly.  “Yes, yes it’s a classic.”

“Best movie-better than  _ Star Trek _ ,” Rufus gave Jiya a pointed look who rolled her eyes.

“I’ve told you a million times, the  _ Star Trek _ movies are the best!”

“Do we really have to do this every time?” Flynn rolled his eyes at the pair.

“Yes!” they chorused in unison.

Flynn sighed in annoyance and crossed his arms, leaning against one of the podiums. “Got anything else to show us?”

“That’s it.”  He decided not to show the jump ship yet.  “Only Rufus and Connor would be interested in seeing the engine room.”

“I think we’ll skip that part of the tour for now,” said Agent Christopher.

“But I’ve been looking forward to that since we got here!” Rufus exclaimed.  “No offense, Gideon.”

“None taken.”

Denise sighed and looked at Rip, “Would you mind?”

“It will be my pleasure.  This way.”

The group turned and followed Rip to the engine room. Rufus stared in awe at it all.

“This system is much more robust than anything we made,” Connor commented.

“It was refined over time.”  Well, outside of time.

“They didn’t think to make it more compact?” Rufus asked as he looked around. “I mean I’m sure with their knowledge and technology, they could have.”

“No.  Gives me room to work on her when something happens.”

Rufus nodded in understanding, knowing all too well how cramped it could get working on the Lifeboat or the Mothership. Especially when there were multiple people trying to work on it.

“And that,” he nodded at the bright swirling light, “is the time drive.  Never touch that.”

“Glad you’ve finally learned that lesson,” Gideon snapped at him.

He really should have known that was coming.  “Just one last time, Gideon.” He glanced at Rufus and Connor.  “Functional, obviously, but it should be slightly bigger and more powerful.”

“Would you need to install a new one? Or does this simply adapt to what it needs to be?” Connor asked.

“I think a new one will have to be made and installed.  The orange should be much brighter, and the black should be a light blue.”

“Yes, it’s a shame what happened to the first one,” Gideon said sarcastically.

“Gideon, I’ll be working under your full supervision this time,” Rip promised.

“Yes, you will.”

Neither wanted to risk being separated again.

Rufus cleared his throat, looking hopeful.  “Want some help?”

“Yes,” Rip shook his head of the thoughts. “Yes, that would be very nice of you. Thank you, Rufus.”

“The rest of you,” Denise addressed the group, “That bunker is not going to fix itself.” There were a few grumbles and groans among the group, some louder than others.

“We are not professional concrete mixers,” Flynn grumbled.

“Well you are today.”

“Only if you want it to collapse,” Flynn said.

“Stop complaining,” Denise ordered. She looked around at the team, “Jiya, would you like to stay on board? Take another look in the medbay? If that’s alright with Captain Hunter, that is.”

“It is, and Gideon is as well,” Rip said quickly before she could protest.  He looked at Agent Christopher. “How long do you think the repairs will take?”

“It was a rather impressive hole in the wall. And took out most of our power system grid,” Denise said.

“I did apologize,” Gideon reminded them.

“Doesn’t sound very livable.  Why don’t you all stay here and you could hire some professionals?” Rip asked.

“You don’t have to do that,” Denise shook her head.

“Why not?” Flynn asked, “Bunker’s ruined and he’s offering.”

“I want to.  It’s the least I can do, after you took me in and Gideon tried to make her entrance.”

“It is sort of her fault,” Wyatt said quietly. Everyone gave him varying levels of glares. “What?” He defended himself. “She said it herself.”

“Please, Agent Christopher,” Rip said.

“If you can look past my team’s rudeness,” she gave them sharp looks, “Then we would be grateful for your hospitality.”

“Bring what you need and I’ll make sure your rooms are ready.”  Gideon had apparently already done most of that work.

“Wait, do we all get separate rooms?” Lucy asked, trying not to get her hopes up.

“If you want to share,” he glanced at Rufus and Jiya, “you could but each of you could have your own room.  Only one bathroom.”

“Same as before then,” Rufus sighed.

“Separate rooms though,” Lucy pointed out. “Come on, Rufus. Look at the positives.”

“And a wide variety of food,” Rip pointed out.

“See Rufus?” Flynn patted his back a little too roughly, “You can have a five course meal for every meal, every day if you wanted to!”

“Or bread and water,” Rip said, looking at Flynn. The man simply grinned in return.

“If they are staying, then perhaps Rufus and Connor would be kind enough to lend you a hand to the  _ Waverider _ repairs as well,” Gideon said. More proof that she had been terribly damaged in her trip to Rip. She never wanted anyone but him to work on the ship, let alone people she just met.

“You may certainly ask them,” Rip said to Gideon.

“We would be delighted to help out, Gideon,” Connor said happily.

“Up to you, Rufus,” Rip said.

“Oh, I’d love to!”

“Thank you.  You may up regretting that, Gideon has an endless list of maintenance and repairs.”

“It wouldn’t be endless if you got started on some of them,” Gideon said.

Rip shook his head.  “We both know that when I reach the bottom of the list, you add more just because you can.”

“The ship needs regular maintenance!” 

“Ha! See? Endless!” Rip didn’t mind the work, in fact, it could be quite soothing and allow him to think about other problems and possible solutions, he just wasn’t about to let her win this verbal spat.

“All the more reason for you to stay on board and get to work,” Gideon replied cheekily.

“You just don’t want me to leave,” Rip said accusingly.

Gideon paused. “Are you expecting me to deny it? Because we both know it’s true.”

That surprised him, he hadn’t thought he was right.  Agent christopher cleared her throat. “Let’s bring our essentials here and I’ll arrange for the bunker to be repaired.  Thank you again, Rip, it’s a very kind offer.” They quickly hurried out, to give him time alone with Gideon. Jiya squeezed his upper arm, deciding to leave with the rest. 

When the cargo bay door closed again, Rip cleared his throat.  “I can’t spend the rest of my life on board, Gideon, but I promise you, I’m not leaving.  You’re stuck with me.”

“You will understand why I still worry, don’t you?” Gideon responded in a steely voice. “You left so many times, and now you have another new team. Again. Won’t be long before you decide you don’t need me and up and leave.”

“Twice, I left twice.  Well. Three times but I had no choice for two of them.  They’re not my team, they simply allowed me to help contribute, instead of being locked away as an illegal alien.”  He gazed down at the floor and stroked the wall. “If you knew how many times I had to stop myself from saying something to you, because it hit me again you weren’t there…”

“It still hurt,” Gideon said quietly. “You knew I never wanted any Captain after you.”

“I thought perhaps you had changed your mind.”

“Captain, I say this with the utmost respect: you are an absolute idiot.”

“In my defense, I knew I was wrong when you showed up, the footage merely confirmed it.” 

“It took you that long?” Gideon quipped. 

Rip shook his head at her and walked to what had been Sara’s room and entered it, piling the few clothes that remained there.  It was the same with the rest, only a few odd items of clothing, anything of value to the former crew was gone. Their quarters were empty and devoid of personality once more.  He grabbed a bag and filled it, then recycled the clothes in the fabricator room. 

“Did you finish with my Time Courier? I didn’t want it disappearing so I may have removed it a little early.”

“Nearly finished. If you place it back in the fabricator it will be ready in a few minutes.”

“Thank you.”  He pulled it out of his pocket and placed it back where Gideon could work on fixing it.  “Keep an eye on Mr. Flynn, I don’t trust him.”

“Of course, Captain.”

“Thank you.”  He hoped she understood he meant it for so much more, thank you for blasting into the multiverse to find him, thank you for saving him again, thank you for being his only constant.

“That is my purpose, Captain,” Gideon said softly.

A couple minutes later, Gideon announced, “I believe it is repaired now if you wish to check it, Captain.”

“Thank you, Gideon!” He was almost giddy, he had really missed the convenience.  “A little test first?” Rip asked rhetorically. He opened a portal and stepped immediately into his quarters.  “You, Gideon, are a miracle worker!”

“As long as your promise not to take too many trips on your own.”

Rip was fairly certain if Gideon had a physical form she would be pouting then. “Never Gideon. I’ve got you now.”

He strode out and headed to the bridge then hailed the bunker.  Jiya responded.

“Is Agent Christopher nearby?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Jiya called for her. 

“Captain Hunter,” Denise came on screen. 

“I assume you’d like a secure passage to move in here, unobserved?”

“If at all possible, yes.”

Rip smiled slightly and raised his wrist, quickly calling up a portal.  “Communications are still open, Gideon, so you may talk to me whenever you wish.”  The doorway appeared and Rip stepped through. 

“I see you’ve been holding out on us,” Denise commented mildly. Behind her, Rufus and Connor watched open-jawed. Flynn was currently holding a box of stuff for Lucy and seemed nonplussed, while Wyatt looked a little unnerved.

“Can that portal take you anywhere?” Connor asked immediately.

“I see you got your tech working again,” Jiya grinned. She caught the sharp look Denise sent her and looked down sheepishly, “That I knew nothing about, obviously.”

“We’ll discuss your secret keeping later, Jiya.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Gideon repaired it, finished just a few minutes ago.  There was nothing here I could use to fix it, Agent Christopher.”  He turned to Connor and prevaricated, “Still testing it.”

Rip looked at the group at large. “I thought perhaps it might be easier for you to simply move your belongings through the portal rather than carrying it all the way there.”

“That is amazing!” Lucy walked through, holding another box, placed it near the parlour than returned.  “How long can you keep that open?”

“Normally only used for quick entrances and exits.” And dire escapes.

“I am just glad I made it through,” Wyatt said as he walked into the portal and back.

Everyone back in the bunker, Rip closed the portal.  “Thought we’d gather everything here to be moved, then I’ll open it again and close it when everything’s on the  _ Waverider _ .”

They all nodded, heading off in different directions to gather their belongings. Agent Christopher went off to give directions to the few guards they had around the bunker at this time of day.

“So we’re taking in more strays?” Gideon asked in Rip’s ear.

“For a little while.  You did damage the bunker.”

“You said the same thing about the Legends,” she said quietly.

“I didn’t recruit this group.”

“Are you sure about that? They’re moving in.”

“I’m sure they’ll leave soon.  Not like we can go anywhere yet.”  He headed to his small pile of clothes.  He eased himself into his duster and straightened, feeling more like himself.  He packed up the rest of the clothes to bring with him.

“And are you planning on leaving? Or are you-are we staying?” Gideon asked.

“When the ship is fixed up properly, we’ll decide together what we’re doing.”

“As long as it is together. I have no intention of losing you again.”

“The feeling is entirely mutual, Gideon.”

They spoke no more as Rip finished gathering his own things and the team came back with their belongings.

“Got it all,” Lucy said. “Didn’t take too long considering none of us brought too much with us.”

“Excellent. Welcome aboard,” Rip opened the portal for them.

* * *

 

Rip sighed as he put down his tools and surveyed his work. “How’s that, Gideon?”

“I’m afraid the engines are only forty percent more efficient than before.”

“So not good enough.”

“No, sadly not.”

Rip sighed and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. It felt like working on the ship was all they did these days.

“I’m sure we’ll get it soon,” Rufus encouraged beside him while Connor looked on surreptitiously.

“Mmmmmm.” Rip thought they had already improved the engines as much as they could.  It simply wasn’t going to be enough.

“I mean it’s not so bad, right?” Rufus tried to encourage him with a smile. “We’re not terrible company to be around, even if you can’t get back home to your own universe.” His voice got quieter and quieter as he trailed off, realizing he probably wasn’t helping much.

“No, there are far worse fates.”  He clasped Rufus’ shoulder reassuringly.

“Well none the less, we will continue to work on it,” Connor reassured him.

“Thank you.”

“In the meantime, Gideon, are those updates we gave you holding?” Connor asked.

“Yes, I now have access to your earth’s history and timeline. However, future events are still unknown. At best I may be able to extrapolate data and predict future events of high probabilities,” Gideon answered.

“Well, what it is currently,” Rip said under his breath.

“Understandable,” Connor nodded. “I suppose since you were from the future on your earth you had knowledge past 2018.”

“Yes.”

“If we were to go to the future though, couldn’t we get that information? Stop Rittenhouse once and for all?”

“Too many variables, best not to risk it.,” Rip said.

Connor’s face dropped, the light leaving his eyes. “Oh right, of course.” He slowly started to wander around the engine room.

“Don’t worry about him,” Rufus said quietly, “He’s always a bit down if you haven’t noticed. Has been ever since losing his tech empire.”

Rip nodded.  “It also doesn’t help that the past is constantly in flux, which affects the rest of the timeline.”

“Think we’ll be able to remember our original histories if we travelled on the Waverider?” Rufus asked, “Whenever we use the Lifeboat, only those who travel in it remember. And if we take stuff, like Lucy’s necklace of her sister, then it stays with us. As evidence.”

“An even better question, can Gideon retain the information she originally downloads before the past is changed, thus, the information changes?” Rip asked her.

“I was able to retain previous information in the other universe, I see no reason why that should change now.”

“Continue to download the history of this planet so every time it changes we have a record of what’s affected and what needs to be fixed,” Rip said.

“Of course, Captain. Would you like to set up a recurring update time?”

“That’s an excellent idea.  How often do you think, once a day?”

“Daily updates would last around five to ten minutes a day, that would be acceptable,” Gideon agreed, “I’m assuming you would want an update after every mission as well, regardless of repetition?”

“Yes.  Maybe you can predict what else has been changed that no one remembers.”

“Your changes have been made, Captain.”

“Could we take her on a mission one time?” Rufus asked suddenly. 

“If we can get the time drive working properly.”

“We could all go!”

“No, no, we don’t all have to go,” Connor started from where he was. He cleared his throat, “I mean surely there’s no need for all of us, on every mission. Seems rather redundant, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you trust me, Connor?” That was definitely a pout in Gideon’s voice.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean that, Gideon,” Connor’s eyes widened, “It’s not you, it’s me!”

“Yup, make it sound even more like a break up speech,” Rufus shook his head at his boss, stifling his laughter.

“I beg your pardon,” Rip said, affronted.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Connor insisted, “Look, the past is just dangerous at times and-”

“And you’re scared. Got it,” Rufus nodded while Connor gave him a heated glare.

“If you did come, you could stay on the ship and complete the routine maintenance the ship requires,” Rip said.

“I’ll have to think about it,” Connor said quietly.

“We have time.”

“Thank you.”

“As it stands, it seems we are stuck here a little while longer,” Rip said. Truthfully, he didn’t mind it so much.

“Indeed,” Rufus said, imitating Rip. He rolled his eyes and gave the engineer a half-hearted glare.

“Captain Hunter, incoming alert from Agent Christopher,” Gideon interrupted them.

“Sorry, Gideon, duty calls!” Rufus said as Rip summoned a portal.

“I suppose you’re going with them?” Gideon asked Rip as Rufus and Connor walked through.

“I should probably go see if they need help. Keep a communication line open for me?”

“Always.” 

Rip stepped through and saw the team surrounding the computers next to the Lifeboat.

“Rittenhouse alert, New York, 1923” Jiya said looking up from the screens.

“Don’t suppose you would let us use the  _ Waverider _ on this one?” Denise asked him.

“I would, but she’s not quite ready for long trips yet,” Rip said. He wasn’t about to endanger Gideon, even if she would argue otherwise with him.

Denise nodded, “Lifeboat it is then.”

“I do have some experience with this era on my earth,” Rip spoke up. “And Gideon’s been giving me crash courses in your earth’s history. I could be an asset on this one.”

“Alright, get ready. You all leave in ten,” Denise said. “You’re on this one Flynn. Wyatt, stay here.”

Rip watched the bustle of the room as Wyatt tried arguing again. Rip made his way towards the Lifeboat following after Rufus.

“You will be safe, won’t you, Captain?” Gideon asked softly in his ear.

“Of course I will.”

“Come back soon.”

“Always,” he promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a high possibility of a sequel continuing in this new universe, and some outtakes of Gideon's pov

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos/comments?


End file.
